1. I am pleasantly surprised when I call Jay from downstairs if she will be going to her athletics and she responds with a yes.
2. Both girls are in a very good mood because class (in most schools in the country) has s been cancelled for tomorrow due to heavy snow forecast.
3. We walk down to the store, my Mom and I, and we run into my cousin’s spouse and their little son, playing in the snow. (I really miss seeing this sweet boy more often. By the time I pass by again, with a rucksack full of groceries on my back, I find they have gone home already.)

1. I have a couple of minutes to myself in the hallway by the vending machines. Gathering my thoughts, thinking about how every new day is a chance to try again and again and again, and how I shouldn’t lose hope.
2. There are signs about exposure to X-rays on all three doors to the neighboring room but I only have to wait there a short while.
3. As I walk into the bookstore I wonder about a particular book, and there it is, right there, when I look down.

1. As we drive down to my Mom’s, Jay and I, we remember a scene from a cartoon and we both laugh out loud. It is a good start of the day.
2. At lunchtime a walk to the mall and back to make some urgent purchases. I begin to feel my muscles from my morning squats.
3. We run around the house like crazy, all three of us, looking for Em’s book Hamlet. I spot it on top of the piano.

1. Jay is pressured by her classmates about which group she should join. She doesn’t want to be a part of either of them, she just wants friends and not gangs. We all know this if-you-are-not-with-me-you-are-against-me attitude… Em has experienced it, now Jay is faced with it. I am really glad she confides in me.
2. After an whole hour at the dentist’s I am most happy to shut my mouth.
3. An old friend’s husband in the waiting room. It’s a funny situation because I don’t recognize him at first, but I manage to save us all the embarrassment.

1. Unlike the red mittens I was wearing during my yesterday’s walk the purple ones feel far more comfortable, not irritating the rash on my hand.
2. A snowflake landing on my glasses.
3. Jay makes the cake all by herself for the very first time. She mixes the flour, and the syrup, the oil, the egg, all other ingredients, covers it with frozen red current, and off it goes into the oven. We have big pieces after lunch. Delicious. She is proud of herself and she should be! I am, too!

1. A glorious dark blue sky, white snow and dark naked trees is what I see through my bedroom window.
2. They laugh out loud as they throw another snowball at me, although I am only pressing my face against the glass on the other side of the kitchen window.
3. Jay’s and her school mates’ performance on stage at the local cultural centre. They do some children’s folklore dancing and they are really sweet (especially when messing up the final bow in front of the audience).

1. I get an unexpected call from the reception desk that there is a lady waiting for me. It’s my Mom.
2. A get-together with friends for the whole afternoon. Chatting, movies.
3. I find Jay half asleep in bed so I can kiss her goodnight and Em waiting up for me to talk about her day.

1. We learn multiplying by 6, Jay and I. Going well.
2. Discarding difficult thoughts and faces that keep flashing up in my mind. Need to make up some space or else I will go crazy. Breathing. Feeling better.
3. I handwrite a long letter which I haven’t done in years. I struggle at first but then I am happy with the process.

1. I am the first parent to walk into the empty classroom. It’s all so familiar: the smell, the walls. This used to be my school once.
2. I can tell that we are both tip-toeing around the topics related directly to our girls. I had witnessed Em’s agony over her best friends’ sudden unexplainable withdrawal just at the beginning of last summer, and I am happy she has gotten over it and that I, too, am fine with this limited communication.
3. I am grateful to be able to call it the day and go to sleep. Surely, tomorrow things will be better, so much better.

1. Back to the office after a week of sick-leave. Greeted by the sun shining through the window.
2. At lunchtime I walk to the bookstore to buy some supplies for Em.
3. She sneaks into my bed, frustrated by math exercises that don't go as smoothly as she was hoping. I tell her to appreciate her learning more and more every day, to go easy on herself, especially at 10 p.m. And with my arms wrapped around her, her long hair in my face I think of all the great things I wish for her.

1. I cleared the Halloween and Christmas décor from Jays’ desk. I am spending 30 minutes decluttering every day and it is going well.
2. My leg hurts again, but I don’t feel any discomfort during my cycling session and that is good.
3. Em is content with her grades end of the first semester and I am very happy about it all, her grades, her passion for learning and her developing skills to deal with stress and to restore balance.

1. A canvas with stars above me as I walk back home.
2. The electricity went out and we light candles. Many candles.
3. I am beginning to like Bob the Cat. As long as he is in the book.

1. Today they both show great passion for learning. I get a boost of energy myself.
2. I am beginning to like threaded bracelets. I put one on tonight.
3. I started my 29 gifts project today. I'm excited.

1. While peeling the potatoes with Jay Em sings Je ne regrette rien, imitating Edith Piaf.
2. We accept my aunt’s invitation. A piece of strudel and a chat about all the good in 2014, especially their Camino.
3. When I agree to buy the skirt her face lights up. I am spoiling her, I know.

1. First I thought I’d do some more cooking, but then I put on my hiking shoes and go for a 30-minute walk in the woods.
2. I burnt the vanilla pastry. If it hadn’t been for B, I would have taken them out of the oven 2 hours after I had put them in. I am grateful I didn’t burn the house down.
3. I text her in the morning, and she gives me a call back just as l lay in bed to read.

1. Em wore her new high heels to school today. She is taller than me now.
2. I got a make-up kit in the mail today. What a kind gesture. The lady must have known my mascara is one year old already.
3. A great evening. I declutter some shelves in Jay’s room. And I get to read The Fault In Our stars, Em’s recent favorite, late into the night.

1. While standing in parking lot, waiting for a friend from the office to give me a lift to work, I look up and there is the beautiful full moon again, its bright shine with a pink rim, and a lacy cloud wave running over it.
2. I use rubber gloves to do dishes for the first time. There are no perfect fit, but they are perfect for my dry chapped hands. Self-care is good.
3. Apples and bread from the oven. Thanks to my Mom.

1. It’s dark and shivering cold as I walk from the crossroads to the office. I am warm and I am fine with the fact that it is Monday. I take a deep breath and change my morning frown to a smile. There are so many things I have to change this year.
2. I look at my 8-yo girl while she learns for school. She is bold and beautiful and I am so proud of her.
3. With Em sitting in the middle of the big bed and going through her lessons out load I can’t possibly continue scanning the real estate sites. And that is a good thing. Because I have gone from checking the same sites from once a day to three times a day and now it’s about time I stop and I listen about how the Slovenian language developed over the centuries.

1. Just me, the icy and muddy trail and the sun for 2 hours.
2. No curd in the fridge, so I experiment by topping the cake with home-made jelly. Yummy.
3. Their visit it unexpected, short but sweet. The toddler in a jeans skirt in my lap makes me yearn for the long gone days with my girls.

1. After an hour of standing by the side of the skating ring I am most happy to get back into the car and turn on the heating.
2. Mail delivered on a Saturday! A Christmas card from an old friend from Denmark! Hurray!
3. Em and I choose to watch the rest of the movie we had started the evening before. I love it when the movie character Mr. Clark says to his wife “The one thing I am proudest of in my whole life is that you’re happy with me.”