As 2015 comes to a close, I realize that I haven’t updated our blog in forever. There were a lot of changes this year to our family. We started the year in NYC mostly together. Janie was in Bahrain, but the rest of us went to NYC.
Alison began her teaching career in January. She moved to Sugarland and started teaching eighth grade English at Wharton Junior High. It was a tough semester. Wharton was a challenging school with an interesting demographic. It was definitely a trial by fire situation. Thankfully she was offered a job in April teaching English at Sweeny Junior High for the 2015-2016 school year.
Spring break brought me to NYC where Madeline and I started a trip to visit all of her prospective colleges. We started by driving from New York to Pittsburgh to visit a small school in the city called Point Park University. It was Madeline’s first choice school. It was a lovely little school right in the heart of Pittsburgh. She lit up just being there. It was clearly the school for her. We then continued our road trip to Ohio Northern in Nowheresville, Ohio. It was a great program in a really small rural town in the middle of Ohio. We drove back to New York and then flew to Charlotte, North Carolina, rented a car, and drove to Catawba College. Madeline and I loved the school. It was such a neat little school about forty five minutes outside of Charlotte. It was a great program and a great school that offered more of a normal college experience of sports, greek life, and activities. They also offered her a huge academic scholarship so it was definitely high on my list. All that travel and visiting, but I knew Point Park had her heart. In the end, she was accepted to several BFA programs, including Syracuse, but after agonizing over the decision she chose Point Park.
Madeline graduated from the Masters School in June. We all met in NY for her graduation and then had one last hurrah in NYC together. We visited our old haunts, saw several Broadway plays, and shopped. I am so going to miss NYC now that Madeline is no longer living there.
The summer was pretty normal. Madeline got a job, Alison moved from Sugarland to Pearland, Janie continued to take classes, and I unsuccessfully attempted to teach Madeline how to drive.
Alison began teaching at Sweeny in the fall, Janie got a roommate for the semester (Jemma) and continued taking classes, and I moved Madeline to Pittsburgh before going back to Saudi. This is the first time in three years that I wouldn’t be coming back to the US for parent’s weekend in October. It was a long fall season in Saudi.
We spent Thanksgiving in Louisiana with the Jane, John, Alison, Luke (Alison’s boyfriend), and my family. We attended the LSU vs. A&M football game with my brother and his law partner. My dad was in the hospital for the month, but all in all it was still a nice weekend celebrating with family.
We did an early Christmas with the Watkinses and Alison and Luke before heading to Louisiana to do Christmas with the Brauds. We did our annual Christmas eve at my Aunt Maycel's without Alison (she was with Luke's family) or John (he was in Saudi) and Christmas day with my nieces and nephew before heading out to Mississippi for my cousin's fireworks show. Ali came the day after Christmas when Luke went hunting.
So as we start the new year Alison is back at work, Janie is gearing up for a full course load this semester and Madeline flies back to Pittsburgh on Sunday for her second semester of college. I will be going back to Saudi in the next three weeks. Leaving our kids is always the hardest part of expat life.
It's weird having three grown children, but we are getting used to our new normal.
