In case you missed my last post, I’m a dad!
That sums up 2024 pretty well, but I can also talk about a few other significant events of last year, such as our house renovation (which did bleed into 2025 a bit…), and my husband and I’s travels.
The highlight of my year (besides my son being born, of course) was probably our “babymoon” to New Zealand. New Zealand’s been on the travel list for quite some time, and it certainly didn’t disappoint! I got to drive on the wrong side of the road (after having a small panic attack), spend a lot of time hiking and sightseeing, and even saw a few penguins in the wild! If you’re ever in southern New Zealand, I highly recommend visiting Kiwi Park in Queenstown and Pōhatu Penguins in Akaroa.
Tym and I also traveled to Los Angeles in May 2024 for the Netflix is a Joke Fest. We saw four different comedy shows over four consecutive nights, which was a blast! We watched performances from Wanda Sykes, Jon Stewart, Iliza Schlesinger, Mekki Leeper, and several other comedians. I’d love to do something like this again someday — it was a fun mix of exploration during the day and seeing shows in the evening.
In addition to our other travels, Tym and I also traveled several times to Minnesota, since that is where our surrogate lives. We spent Thanksgiving in a small town near Minneapolis and welcomed our son to the world on December 2nd. Time has been speeding by since then, and I can’t believe he’s already almost 8 months old!
In many ways, we also felt like tourists in our own city as we spent the majority of 2024 living in two temporary apartments and two other Airbnbs while our house was under renovation. We moved out of our home at the end of March and were finally able to move back in a few days before Christmas, after our son was already several weeks old. We are so glad to be home!
2025 & Beyond
Overall, 2024 was a pretty great year. While my fitness declined by the end of the year, I still managed to do quite a bit of running. I really hope to get back into ice skating, kayaking, and other activities in 2025.
My primary focus for 2025 is to be a good parent, and my secondary goal is to figure out how to continue to succeed in my career while being a good parent, but I do have a few goals in mind for the year that I hope to strive towards achieving over the next several months. While I’m no longer serving as the volunteer coordinator for the Run and Walk with Pride, I’d like to continue being active in my running groups for the benefit of both my physical and mental health.
This post was short and sweet this year and might end up being my last annual “goal/reflection” posts — I may start to post ad-hoc as time allows, as free time has been pretty scarce lately. We shall see!
What all did you get up to in 2024? Feel free to share in the comments!
Until next time,
— Robert