It feels like 2025 has lasted one hundred years and yet here we are, not even 6 months into my golden year. We’re still here, and as is the case with life in general, it’s been a mixed bag. Some truly awful historical things happening and yet some genuinely wonderful, if bittersweet triumphs in our family life.

First, though, I’ve been eating well so far this year. Had a chance to visit and catch up with friends over delicious dishes as well as share foodie goodness with my own family. There’s a comfort in knowing that we can still do that. There’s a comfort in knowing I have a solid set of friends and despite going years without seeing each other in person, we easily slip back into our friendships and time is never enough to catch up on what’s happened in our lives thus far.

It’s weird how I am only sharing the positives here despite all the awful things I’d like despair over to, let’s face it, the air and perhaps future me. Past me, you know you’re in a holding pattern right now and it’s not just about what’s going on in the country. Future me, will our country and democracy survive *waving hands and arms wildly* all this?

Which brings me to bittersweet triumphs.

I’ve made it to my golden year. I had so many plans and anxious anticipation leading up to turning 50, but strangely as I got closer to it this spring, it felt less daunting and how I wanted to commemorate it got simpler. I really tried to separate how I thought I should celebrate my birthday from what I actually wanted to do. Novel idea, huh? Is this the part where you get older and have lesser or no f*cks left to give? God, I hope so!

One of the things I actually wanted to do and did was take a trip back to my hometown, NYC. Just me and my Mom, and as luck would have it – a room with an incredible view of the city! It was lovely because Mom and I had stuff we did together and stuff we did with our own friends. Besides getting to watch a fantastic Broadway musical, one of my favorite birthday treats was to spend almost an entire day, on my own, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I found that even that was not enough and perhaps next time, me and hubby take a trip just to spend a few days at the MET, where incidentally, we met for the first time.

Holding pattern though, is where I really do feel right now. Every weekend, it seems, from now til September feels full of something we are going to be busy with. It feels like a lot mostly because I know it leads to the very real fact that my first baby, my beautiful daughter, is going off to college. I, of course, am thrilled for her. She’s going where she wants to go, and it’s far enough to have a healthy distance from the shadow of Mom and Dad, but close enough that she is an Amtrak ride away. Whew. How is it possible to feel this sad and happy at the same time?

And so, 2025, is such a mixed bag so far. A lot of change and a lot of waiting and seeing. I’ll just leave you with this gem and we’ll see how the rest of this year goes.