Rounding the corner on year two of being a two dog household, we unfortunately had our first string of not great dog sitters (after nearly 14 years of excellent ones, it was bound to happen)! However, this led us to find our first perfect dog sitter, and now the dogs want to live with him instead of us. Fortunately they have continued tolerating our presence, although Penny sometimes has other ideas, as seen below.

While recovering from a running injury, Chad was advised (by medical and non-medical friends) that he should invest in a Playstation so he could play video games while sitting. Sitting is not something Chad is good at doing. This led to a purchase of Hogwarts Legacy, which although a single player game, has provided us both with hours of shared entertainment (I like exploring, he likes fighting). Since Chad doesn’t have as much “free time” as I do, he got me a Switch so that Lucia can help pick up the “playing together” slack and we’ve spent some time in Animal Crossing. Bonus, Switch also has Mario Kart, which breaks up the video game monotony of fighting spiders and learning magic spells, with racing karts and pretending we know how to trash talk.

While we’re still struggling to get back to normal from :checks notes: Spring of 2020, (maybe this IS the new normal, sarcasm font), we’ve managed to make new friends, celebrate (and visit!) old ones, and find joy in moments big and small. We hope this year is filled with crossing starting lines and finish lines; celebrations of love and life; doggy snuggles; good friends, good food, and good memories.