Closing out 2025

Every time we close a new year, it almost feels like finishing a book. Some books are so good you want to read them again, some time in the near future, or immediately. And some, you can’t bury them deep enough to never find them again, nor remember them ever. 

But either way, even if you’d revisit them, you’d do it knowing more, reading them with new eyes. Ending a year also feels like a new book is waiting for you on the shelf. A brand-new, 365 page book, just waiting to be cracked open and savored. Some pages will delight, and some will frighten. Just the same, you never know what you’re gonna get. 

I have been sitting on this blog for a month now, writing it in my head only, and I didn’t know (I still don’t know) what’ll be about ... 

In some respects, I feel like I have not accomplished that much this year, and in some others, I feel like it was the most transformational year of all of my half-a-century life.  If there was a theme for the year, I’d say, the themes were turmoil, strife, and rebirth, albeit a premie and fragile one. 

The way the year started, at least out there in the outside world, I was not sure we would make it to the end of it in one piece ... Struggle, war, total disregard for humanity kicked off the year and it persisted throughout. 

After a couple of months of frantically following the news only to read bleak story after bleak story and hopeless story after hopeless story, I decided to stop torturing myself. Dusting up my Communist childhood survival skills of self-preservation, I donned them with renewed strength and almost immediately got comfortable in them. It is unfortunate, but it is the only way I would have survived this year, when heroes were put down, and spit in the face, hunted, and killed, while oppressors are riding the high waves of fame, fortune, and rampant lawlessness. 

I realized that the loyalty we have to serve is not to the world, not to who’s in office, any office for that matter, not to the media, but to us. To our own lives. The key thing for our happiness is to take care of us, and our own. Start at home, like The Alchemist taught us. The world will be noisy - it always is. And history always repeats, despite our most ignorant efforts. But our lives are but once. So why waste them on what we can’t control? I know - all cliches and all platitudes, but I had to keep telling them to myself, to be able to survive in good health. And that is not an overstatement. 

If I would oversimplify the year, I would start  by separating the good from the bad, at the risk of being cheesy. 

The year started with the devastating fires in Los Angeles, here in the US, and so much war and torture everywhere else. The struggles, and authority oppression was only to come to our American cities throughout the year, too, sowing fear and rage amongst all of us, whether we were targets or not. Planes falling from the skies followed, social media and IT giants sold off to the new leadership, a lot more than usual, America starts striking places for what seems like petty, old reasons, throws its weight around in the world and threatens with imperialist expansion countries that didn’t see it coming; this was the year of several major infrastructure internet outages that paralyzed the world, more than I ever remember seeing in one short period of time; it was the year of more politically-motivated hate murders that occurred in the US and the year of the longest government shutdown in the US. Strikes in Canada and other places paralyzed the world. Dictators continued to steal elections, but some countries managed to overthrow some of these trials and came out victorious in the end, restoring or continuing their democratic tradition, like Romania did. A bright light ... 

This was the year where we had war on almost every continent - Ukraine’s war is still raging on in Europe, the Israel-Palestinian war passed its two-year mark in the Middle East, Burma, Thailand in Asia and what seems like the whole continent of Africa are also in unrest. And where there is no war, there is violence. In normally peaceful places like Australia. I have felt like the whole world is sitting on a powder keg, and the fire is getting closer with every year, it seems. With no hope for a peaceful force to be reckoned with in sight. Nothing but violence and display of hatred, negativity, and evil. 

On a personal level, we lost several people close to our hearts - friends, and pets (and yes, pets are people, too) - amongst which, a best friend in Florida that passed too soon of lung cancer, my nephews’ step grandpa who passed as doctors tried to repair an aorta tear; one of my nephews’ best friends, a little boy of 17 who died of a brain tumor. Cancer still sucks so much and continues to leave empty seats at the table and big holes in our hearts. 

A highschool mate passed suddenly, without warning to many of us, and when someone your age goes and they go young, it gives you an even bigger jolt than usual forcing you to contemplate your own life’s fragility. 

My mom has had a couple of brushes with hospital stays and her health continues to decline. But she is also around and we’re grateful for another year with her. It was another year of layoffs and fearing of losing healthcare, and other benefits. It was shaky and unstable but in the end, everything remained in place ... There is no guarantee for tomorrow, but then again, when is there? 

We were grateful to be included in the lives of the young ones in our family and it was such a gift to watch them grow, search for themselves, graduate high school, get accepted to better schools, learn how to drive, get jobs, open businesses and be successful, get significant others and learn life ... The promise of tomorrow because of them is the silver lining for dark times like these. 

The turmoil of the world affected us too, despite our best efforts to build a strong shield around us. The roller coaster of tariffs, and changes in laws never seems to be ending. One of my articles was censored for the first time, by, surprisingly, a Romanian magazine that deemed it “too anti-Trump”, alghough it marginally alluded to him - it was mostly about the current status of the American people, from my own point of view. A sign of the times. I am still grateful that at least for now, I can let these words reach the world ... 

I consider the fact that I finally renewed my Romanian (which is also now a European Union) passport, a personal accomplishment this year. It was way past due, and if nothing else, maybe it will be easier for me to help my family settle all we need to settle with our birth country when the time comes. When I got my US passport, it felt like the biggest accomplishment of my life; and this year, renewing my birth-given rightful passport gave me a similar if not slightly more elevated high. This is to show you that perspective and context is everything and nothing changes faster and more often than cultural and historical context and perspective. Stay alert, but stay present and always know what your best solution is, even if it might not be your most favorite one. 

Outside of the incredible number of hundreds of thousands  of innocent people lost to war this year, the world got a little darker because we lost some of its brightest of lights - Jimmy Carter, David Lynch, Diane Keaton, Robert Redford, Jane Goodall, Pope Francis, among so many of them. Ozzy Osborne and Rob Reiner also passed. And this is how the page turns on entertainment, and not only that. It might not be the same but who knows, maybe “different” would not be bad ... 

It was a year of several difficult deaths, with young people killed, and kids dying of starvation. Can you imagine: humanity being as old as it is, and we’re still dying of famine! The simplest necessity of all? How can we allow this to happen? In addition, this was a year when some people were brutally murdered and close to us people committed suicide. 

And yet, the year also brought so much hope and light, too. We were (still!) able to travel where we wanted, in peace, and relative safety. We went to live events with some of the people that bring openness and mindfulness to our lives - we went to a Jon Stewart live event in Richmond, VA, to a live talk with Neil deGrasse Tyson in Greensboro, NC and we met some of the stars of Twin Peaks in Virginia Beach, VA. 

The highlight of my year, the breathtaking moment of the year that marked my half-century of life was of course, the opportunity of immersing myself into the world of Londolozi, the South African conservation reserve famous for photography safaris and so, so much more goodness to the world. After reading the book Cathedral of the Wild in 2020 (after learning about it in 2017), I finally was fortunate enough to travel to South Africa to keep my promise and spend my 50th birthday in this magical place ... Boyd Varty, the author and the son of one of the owners, sent me a personal video message on the big day, as I was eating my breakfast on the deck of the Varty Camp where everything started, overlooking the greenery on the Sand River. It was a breathless moment. His mom came to have breakfast with us the morning before. I notice here and there that my memory might not be what it used to be, but I hope that God will never erase this memory from my brain. So fortunate. So lucky. So blessed. 

A common trend seems to be that people believe this was “the year for AI” - not sure yet whether we can speak of the “promise” or the “threat” of AI? Or, I suppose, a promise can have a good or a bad denouement? But all the strife and the goodness of the world, as far as I can tell, has still come from people. From humans doing human-ly things ... Or not doing them. From being way too human, perhaps, with all that is bad in that sense. 

Just like a book, or just like life, this year has seen the good, the bad and the ugly of humanity and the world. We take the scars and the joys forward and move on through the years, if we’re lucky. 

I am adding some pictures that will complete this year’s memory of what will stay with me forever. 

The one thing I do know for sure: what I felt in the African veld, listening to the ring-neck dove cooing, watching the impalas graze, ever watchful of the many dangers around them, the millions of years of wisdom imparted with me through a leopard’s stare right into the core of my being as she was lovingly guarding her cub peacefully asleep, the wind in my hair as Jerry, our ranger, was throwing the landy from ditch to ditch on the dirt roads cutting through Londolozi, or driving through crocodile-filled waters, the openness, kindness, love, and respect of the Shangan people, the selflessness of their sharing their culture with us, what they all made me learn about the world and about myself in those short four days at Londolozi - THAT will remain with me forever from this year, as its most lasting stamp. 

A dear author says “grace bats last” and many, many wise thinkers assure us that peace and kindness always win, in the end. Sometimes, I am exhausted from waiting, and hoping, and praying, and voting right, and being an example for good. But it’s the only way forward. Everything this year has shown me and taught me only deepened and strengthened this belief ... 

Good hope and a good year to all for 2026! 

One of the meaningful milestone trips this year, was revisiting Robert Redford's hideaway piece of heaven - Sundance, in Utah. This is one of the timeless spots that we hope will remain untouched ...

It's tough to find Montreal in a picture-perfect season. But June seemed to be like hitting the jackpot! The beauty and serenity of the Botanical Gardens never disappoints.

Dinner in a library. Almost. The former library at the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, VA is now a very nice restaurant. Beautiful preservation of the place.

The Ximungwe female leopard sharing with me her wordless wisdom. An unforgettable, as it was humble, moment.

Ray Wise, Dana Ashbrook, Kimmy Robertson, Harry Goaz from Twin Peaks in conversation with Sabrina Sutherland, the producer of Twin Peaks, The Return. Virginia Beach, VA.

The Palace of Culture towers over my home town of Iasi, Romania as it has all of my life. I think every time that I would find it changed and it stubbornly surprises me with the contrary.

Not sure what took us this long, but we finally hiked the trails of the ancient Uwharrie Forest (only an hour from our house) this fall. You can almost hear the centuries pass in its quietude.

In a year when humans all but disappointed us, we sought refuge more and more in nature. Here, we're chasing the herons and egrets of The Pinkney Wildlife Refuge, in Hilton Head Island, SC.

The impressive famous Industrial Detroit murals by Diego Rivera. Don't ever let anything dissuade you from having your own experience - Detroit abounds with art and history.

As we close the year, I remember the many sunsets we experienced in 2025. And just like sunsets - the dark will come, but it will always be followed by light, the next day. Learn from the dark, and always prepare for the light.

Here, a November sunset on Hilton Head Island, looking at Daufuskie Island, SC.

No, You Are Not Welcome, 2024!

I have always hated leap years! With a passion ... 

They roll in like an unruly teenager, full of pluck and insolence, trashing your house, your car, and emptying out your bank account before they take off into the sunset never to be found with your whole life in shambles behind!  There is no reasoning with them and nothing to do but step aside, let the damage unfold and hope it passes. Because you know, we are told that everything has an ending. Even the tragedies ... 

2024 was much like all the other leap years that have passed over me. Maybe it’s because it’s the most recent, but this one really left a mark! I feel exhausted and totally uninterested in what is next, if you can believe it ... Me, the nosiest, most curious person you know - couldn't care less about what comes next! Because this year has taught me: “don’t ever ask: what else?!” - because to you that’s a rhetorical question, but to life, that’s a challenge! 

This has been a year spent under the watchful eye of the cardinals, announcer of bad news but promise holders of happy endings, too. They greeted us every morning in our back yard and bid us 'good night' almost every evening.
At one point, a whole Vatican of cardinals flew over our heads during one of our walks, and then we knew we were going to be in for an interesting one ... 

In a (large) nutshell, this is about as well as I’d summarize this year (and you’d need a long drink if you dare be here for the whole thing): 

In January, mom collapsed alone, in our home in Romania, and was in a coma for some number of days ... We had family and friends gather around her to care for her around the clock after that. The ER doctor wrote to us that she can never be left alone for the remainder of her days.  

In February, mom collapsed to her second coma, this time with a very severe case of sepsis. Her doctor urged us to come back to Romania, because she was not sure she would come out of it. But mom is like a cat with about 10,000 lives so she did come out of it. Damaged, and weak, never to be herself again, but she survived it. 

March gutted me! It asked me to make the hardest decision I have made in my entire 49 years of life. It was time to find a place for mom. Even if the family lived with her, we were urged that her mental state and her health is too precarious to be at home. 

You know those idyllic commercials for “A place for mom”? They are all a bogus bunch of nonsense! No place, no matter how polished and advertised in slow motion with plenty of light and smiles is ever as good, as loving, as safe as you would want it to be for those you love. It was like someone was pulling my heart out of my chest with no anesthesia and promising me this is for the best reasons and it’ll be good! I didn’t see it. I never saw it. And for me to make this decision the week of Mother’s Day, it was just cruel! I kept asking why? What have I done? Who have I wronged to be asked to make this decision for the woman who gave her all to have me ...?

As my personal life was in this much turmoil, the world was stewing with bad news, as well. March was the month that reinstated Putin (after a rigged election) as the president of Russia - all while the world shuddered, and all but a feeble reminder of what we’re headed towards! 

In April, I tried really hard to start some semblance of a healing process ... I came back home after the hardest, most cruel month in Romania and I looked for ways to lick my wounds and heal ... We went up North to be with my sister for my birthday. Watching the total solar eclipse together put some things into perspective: when something makes you feel that small, you realize your woes are only infinitesimal on the firmament of life and the universe ... Aa. and I then headed South, to Florida, to learn more about how to advocate for Homozygous FH - the genetic disease that both my parents so generously gave to me and my sister ... I learned of new ways to help the world live with this sometimes invisible and cruel disease. You know what a smart man once said: when everything falls apart around you, look for the helpers ... I try to do that: be a helper to whomever might need me ... 

The solar eclipse on April 8, 2024 - Montreal, QC

May continued with this year’s streak of pain: mom was rushed into the ER for the third or maybe fourth time this year (in five months!). This time with pleurisy. This on top of her lung cancer and COPD, of course ... May was a touch-and-go month for her - several visits to the hospital for lung fluid punctures, a tooth infection and more complications ... The little bit of diversion we had here (a trip to the mountains on Memorial Day weekend) was always accompanied by long all-night calls with Romania to coordinate mom’s care and with my sister who was there for Easter, trying to be there for her in spirit while she handled mom on the ground through the ups and downs... 

The world continued to boil over, as the prime minister of Slovakia was assassinated in May. Trump is formally convicted of a crime the same month - the first former president to do so. In May, we also lost the Greensboro News and Record’s building, the place where Aa. and I met in 2007 - as it was torn down by bulldozers in Greensboro, NC. There is nothing that reminds you how transitory we all are more than watching something once standing proud as a beacon of truth turn to rubble. 

June was another touch and go month for mom. She went to the hospital for a week to undergo a procedure for her lungs that would hopefully prevent her from ever building up fluid again. We spoke every day, as we normally do ... and she begged us daily to take her out of the hospital - but it was not possible ... A few weeks after being released she had to be rushed into ER again because her operation stitches had become infected. How’s that for adding insult to injury?! With every painful breath she takes, I feel a pang of pain in my side. But I must keep going. For me, for my family, for her. 

July seemed that we were well enough to try to sneak in a bit of a bright spot, as we took some time for ourselves: we flew to Chicago (my first time) and then we visited with Aa.’s mom for July 4th in Michigan . But then, shortly after we came home, while we were at a baseball game in Greensboro, NC, then former president Trump is shot in the head, in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania. About 5 days after that the world is back to normal, with the story barely in the headlines anymore. Whatever your stance on the matter or the person shot here, what kind of a world do we live in where an assassination attempt is just normal?! The whole event made me feel dirty for being human, really! 

The timeless Chicago and its "Bean"

President Biden announces he is stepping down from the race to the White House in the fall and is making room for Kamala Harris to replace him. This is also in July, 4 months before the elections. I don’t think this country has ever been more divided and thrown into confusion before as it is now - but of course I was not here for The Civil War and for the 60’s ... It’s like: just when you thought you got your balance this year, here’s another punch in the gut! 

And even worse news came from people much closer to my heart: my best friend’s mom dies at 70 from complications of lung disease. The streak of sadness would not let up this year, I figured, by this point ... But I stopped counting a long time before then ...

August came roaring with another piece of bad news from home: my only aunt also moved into an assisted living home after making the decision that she can no longer care for herself either ... On the backdrop of my family just falling apart this year, I didn’t want to be anywhere for my sister’s birthday in August but with her. So, we surprised her with the only surprise I have been known to successfully accomplish in my life when we showed up at a restaurant in Boston for her birthday dinner ... Everyone that knows me knows that 1. I hate surprises and 2. I am just about the most predictable person you’ll ever meet. For me to pull this one off successfully was an accomplishment of a lifetime. But we needed each other, my sister and I ... She gave me some much needed strength for my April birthday when I got to go up there and spend it with her, that I just wanted to give her that gift in return. I hope she felt the same as I did in April ... 

The JFK Library in Boston, MA

September was another bleak month. One of my sister’s best friends from work passes incredibly young with two small children after a short and cruel battle with cancer. My former philosophy teacher dies in his 70’s from many complications from a stroke he had over a year before. My aunt is sent to the ER from the assisted living facility with respiratory block caused by her heart condition. 

On this backdrop, I fly to Romania to spend mom’s 71st birthday with her. Her birthday was a bright spot during that trip, as she got to come out of the place she is in and have lunch at her favorite restaurant. As I was trying to leave my home town, at night, the Tarom (Romanian airline) could not find my ticket for the flight out of there. I was livid. Their own app showed the confirmed ticket, the app where I bought the ticket showed it, too, but the check-in agent said a passenger by my name does not exist on his flight and the flight was full so they could not just give me a seat. Huge scare, but averted because they had ONE person NOT show up so after check-in was closed, they snuck me in at the insistence of my uncle who is a retired Tarom official. Glad that the universal “knowing people in the right places” still works sometimes. Also in September, Trump manages to survive another assassination plot - this time averted with no shots fired. September also brings unprecedented weather to North Carolina, too, and absolutely trashes the West (yes, not the ocean-front East) part of the state, the mountains, after the passing of Hurricane Helene. 

And just because pain gets lonely and needs injury for companionship, I test positive for Covid in October. Yes, folks, this is still something real and this is still going around! North Korea ships 10,000 troops to fight in the Russia war in Ukraine, while the US lifts all restrictions on how the Ukrainians can use the arms and ammunition that they bought from America. I am not even brave enough to imagine what kind of world we would wake up to the following morning - every morning ... This feels like the ultimate straw. Except it is not ... 

On a personal level, I meet with a new vascular surgeon for an update on my abdominal aorta and he pretty much waves me off that I am OK, when the CT scan he ordered and never reads shows the status of my aortic stenoses is worsening. I am used to medical doors slamming in my face, but it’s especially hurtful when you know the situation is worse ... The fight continues, I can tell you that much! 

We all know what November brought at a national and even international level ... It brought a new (old) president to the US for the next four years. Everyone I know is mad or sad about this - regardless of what side of the fence they both stubbornly hug! Some people are mad at the result, some people are mad at the loss of identity of one party, some people are mad because they lost friends and even broken up families in the process. The vitriol and hatred continues to boil as the world seems to  continue to not figure this out at all, but instead, to dig us all into a deeper grave. 

My mom’s last living aunt was hospitalized (she is 86) with a ruptured large intestine in November, as well,  and has been very slowly healing with several complications for over a month now. She is now bed-ridden and without a clear future yet. 

To get away from it all, Aa. and I decide to take a bucket-list trip to follow the sites of the Twin Peaks series in the Pacific Northwest. It was a trip much like a Lynch movie: part mystery, part dream, and all real ... I need a whole book to document this as one paragraph would not do it justice. 

My happy place: Kiana Lodge in Washington State - filming location for Twin Peaks

The pay-back for having a breather came when we got back, when we had a small cancer scare that ended up being benign right here, in our home ... But sigh of relief on this one for now! Then, also in November, the same out-of-control political nightmare that threw America into chaos earlier in the month repeated the feat in the Romanian elections. Foreign interference, social media manipulation, and all other means of political corruption thwarted an otherwise free election to cause it to be canceled by the Constitutional Court - an unprecedented event in Romanian history. But this is how leap years roll, I tell ya! Remember 2020?! 

December rolled in with a bang. Quite literally, when the CEO of UnitedHealthcare was assassinated in New York. It feels some days like this country sees only two solutions for every problem anymore: a lawyer, or a gun. Nothing besides or in-between. 

Aa.’s closest friend’s wife spent most of this month in the hospital between this world and the next one (including during her birthday), and another one of my best friends broke her leg in New York at the end of November. This left both these women out of commission at this time of the year - either in bed or in a wheelchair ... Pain and sickness is emotionally contagious, so we cry and mourn and suffer with those we love, here and far ... And always, always feel helpless. 

All of late fall, early winter has been peppered with more international instability and bad news: from the war in Israel that’s spilling into several other Middle Eastern countries, to the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, to the second collapse of the French government and the turmoil of Canada, and of course, through the long, bloody, and painful war in Ukraine which is next door to my other “home” - miles from my home town in fact ... it feels like this Titanic is flooded and going down fast ... 

And now, as I write this, I am getting ready for my third trip this year to Romania to be with mom, my aunt, and briefly with my sister and nephews for a few days ... I am even scared to put that foot down outside my front door and start this journey, but life has always taught me that hiding is how evil wins! So onward is the only way ... 

This was the least productive year for me, literary-wise ... I felt no desire to write, no reason to do it, it all seemed useless and futile. I also probably read the least, because I cannot focus enough to go through a book. Not really ... 

There have been some (not many, but a couple or five) bright spots this year that made the going easier, at times - and for that I am so grateful, of course ... 

Despite the sadness and the back-paddling, besides the aging and the sense of loss, this is also the year when we saw Bob Dylan and Alanis Morrisette. The year that I followed in the footsteps of David Lynch, one of my brilliant guiding minds. As technology and science are still advancing, this was a year of partaking more of their new offerings for a better, more efficient life; the year when I finally found a more stable (albeit painfully expensive) cure for my HoFH (the only thing that ever truly worked for me - a new once a month infusion called Evkeeza thanks to medical discoveries). I am grateful that the world still innovates despite all the calls to the contrary. Or maybe it does because of it ... 

It was the year I saw a full, total solar eclipse, the Aurora Borealis and a comet - all in the span for 3-4 months. The year I saw the most architecturally beautiful city that I have ever seen (Chicago) and the year I met up with a long-lost friend from way back in high school that happens to live in the Pacific Northwest. Through some kind of a blessing, he and his wife were available to meet us on our Twin Peaks tour. I don’t like surprises, but this was one of my favorites, to be sure.

Above the clouds: Mount Rainier, WA - challenging us to always reach higher

Unrelated to the leap year, as I get older, I am finding out with every year that I have fewer and fewer friends ... Especially in times like these, where you feel like you’re barely hovering over the abyss, I have felt most of my “friends” drift away. I am sure everyone is busy handling their own tragedies, perhaps, so I am not too bitter about that. But it does get quieter and quieter in the friends zone for us ... I have no judgement to add. It’s an observation, and nothing besides. 

The people we did get to see and spend time with this year, whether in good times or bad, were God-sends. They made the journey more manageable by sharing the load. For that I am forever grateful. Even those we cared for in sickness and even those who had sadness of their own were a welcome balm, to be able to share their sorrow as much as they shared ours ... To them all, I owe the lessons I have learned and the energy that I have to keep going ...

Everything does have an ending and so will this wretched year. Good or bad, much more sad and painful than light and joyful for sure, it is part of my life. Like any link in the chain - the whole life would not make sense without it in it. I am changed. I am morphed into whoever this new person is now. I feel in my body like I am still 10, but in my heart and my mind, I feel 120. Don’t even dare look in the mirror ... Most days I am scared of what stares back at me - this scared mouse, afraid for her and her loved ones’ life, with only a glimmer of what used to be hope in her eyes. I am not too convinced the actual hope is indeed still there most days ... 

But ... at the end ... we don’t want evil and sadness and death to win. At the end, as long as there is breath, we move on ... At the end - always remember: tragedies are not endless ...

Now for the next year, the only promise I am making is this: I will work the hardest and the most diligently that I have ever worked to see that there is a next year and a next 50, even. 

Happy new one, all! I hope we all meet again after the threshold - braver, stronger, and readier ... 

(Photo from the Londolozi reserve - South Africa)

2023. A Retrospective

Another crazy and crooked, and hard and funny, and light and heavy, and ... in the end, beautiful year! 

The year took off like a space rocket which we saw from Wrightsville Beach, NC in January - Space X’s Falcon 9 ...

Space X launched the Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral, FL. But here we captured the launch something like 600 miles North, in Wrightsville Beach, NC

Then there was re-discovering The West (after a 4 year absence) - walking and the driving among cactus plants taller than five-story buildings in Arizona ...

Cactus in Saguaro National Park - Tucson, AZ

I picked up a new hobby - the study of Frank Lloyd Wright’s homes - and kicked off this new obsession by visiting his Taliesin West in Arizona and the Westcott House in Ohio ...

Frank Lloyd's Wright Taliesin West - Scottsdale, AZ

I made my search for National Parks an official hobby too - and we visited three new ones for us: Saguaro (AZ), Indiana Dunes (IN), and Jean Lafitte (LA). Rediscovered the healing power of nature and its untouched beauty. 

I saw armadillos for the first time ever and an owl up-close in the wild as well. 

Armadillo outside the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park - Marrero, LA

From a boat on the Mississippi Delta, in Jean Lafitte National Historical Park - Marrero, LA

We walked the streets of my hometown of Iasi and visited museums we had not seen together before. One would think that no stone is left unturned in your hometown, but we found evidence to the contrary ... 

Street bench in the University District of Iasi - Romania

We went to New Orleans together for the first time, too - got lost in this noisy, smelly, but beautiful old city. A city ever in search of the next thrill, ever aware of its originality and charm.

Amazing "fish wings" at GW Fins, in New Orleans

It was the year of the long road trips - North Carolina to Michigan and then, later, to Louisiana. Long? Yes, but worth it in the end, to cover and see as much of this land as possible. 

We met with family in and from at least three corners of the world. We spent July 4th with my mother-in-law in Michigan and I learned to play pick-up sticks. We celebrated mom’s 70th birthday - so grateful for this milestone and that we were all able to be together for it. We hosted my nephews for a week in North Carolina and cracked up at their funny mouths and originality while experiencing some of their firsts - simple things like lunch at Chick fil-A, their first baseball game, and introducing them to a new artform - the musical (Wicked). 

The Wicked stage in Durham, NC

We got lost in the Smoky Mountains in search of waterfalls right as the summer was slowly creeping in on Memorial Day ... We found hidden-gem wineries and small mountain towns - Bryson City, Sylva and Beech Mountain, too.

View from Deep Creek Winery - Bryson City, NC

Food was new and good to us this year too: we savored award-winning chili at the River’s End Restaurant on the Nantahala River and discovered delicious fish “wings” in New Orleans. 

Bridge over the Nantahala River. River's End Restaurant in the background.

We had cancer scares and health setbacks. We had health successes too. Through home and body repairs, everything and we aged by yet another year ... Everything has an age ...

We supported each other and family and friends in the loss of loved ones or of pets, or in other losses and difficult times, whether there were big or small accidents or misbehaving kids ... 

We continued to watch the world come apart at the seams with sickness, with war, and so much loss that it’s painful to open the news every day anymore ... We pray and we hope for a better tomorrow for all of us. We pray that the lessons that history has taught us are not yet lost on the human race ... We continue to hope there is still some good out there, and try to not think too much and too hard of what might be coming next if the world is not waking up! 

We continued to cross things off of our bucket list like visiting the Dali museum in St. Petersburg, FL or taking our first cooking classes together ... 

Entrance to the Dali Museum - St. Petersburg, FL

During the whole time, we missed dad ... Painfully, dreadfully, and unavoidably ... Everything I did reminded me of him - the stories about the food that I could not share with him, my orchids blooming twice, not once, this year, mom’s birthday party that he did not get to organize ... We lost his dog, his car, and gave away his clothes ... With each gesture, we lost him a little bit more ... It was a brand-new year of learning how to move on, how to keep going without him in the light ... This year was definitely a lot less funny and a lot less light because he was not in it ...

But, at the end of it all, I am grateful for the bright spots - the love and the togetherness we have felt, whether close by or from far-away ... 

Even with all the reminders of loss and pain, I am looking forward to what is next ... Like every year, like every day - life is good and bad, dark and bright, easy and hard - all rolled up into a perfectly imperfect whole ... To witness it all is a privilege. I wish for health in the new year, for it is in health that all things are possible. And I wish for peace in the new year, too, for it is in peace that they become true ... 

Happy New Year, everyone!