Recap - a long one, I guess

One of the best ways to get lost in time, memories and old photos is to start browsing among old documents. I took our external hard drive out of the display case and that was the end of my effective work. It was supposed to be short, I just wanted to find some images that had to visually accompany the event I wanted to share with you in the Throwback Thursday community, but alas... I didn't find any of the images I wanted and time passed.

This also supports the feeling that I had to stick to my first idea... and that was to make a short recap of this year, starting from January to December but I was frightened of the work it supposed and the still fresh memories that I had to squeeze in one post. I will still try to do it, maybe in a shortened version and highlighting just the main events. Let's see what can I do and go through my 2024 year. After all, this is the last Thursday of this year, so the occasion is more than suitable for this kind of post.

January started with a travel. We did a little raffle; we wrote several cities on small pieces of paper and put them in a hat. My son put his hand inside and took out a piece of paper that said Zaragoza and so on the second day of January we went to that city. My husband and I visited it already in November of 2023, but this time our son was with us too.

That day when we arrived we went to a shopping mall close to our accommodation to buy some food. Almost everything was closed but hey, there was one thing in that shopping mall hall that caught my attention:

So, almost one year ago, on January 2 you could sell your BTC for 40347€ (around 42K USD) or buy it for 45672€ (around 47.5K USD) in this machine.

In February our son went to Germany for one week to attend a musical project. They stayed in an old castle and had several hours of rehearsals every day, and at the end, they had a concert. We as parents were happy that he had this opportunity to travel and do what he loves - playing the violin.

In March I worked a lot, I remember @jesuslnrs was coming to Spain and I was looking for a free day in my schedule to be able to meet him but that was difficult... In the end, I had a free day on Good Friday and my husband and I went to Madrid to meet him and his girlfriend (now wife ;).

This was also the month I started a new community - Kindness Rocks. I know I should put more time and effort into keeping it alive. Now I don't have as many pebbles around as I used to have on the beach where I lived, but that is not an excuse.

April - my parents used to say this month was crazy, because of the weather. Here in Spain, it is not that crazy, at least there is no snow that falls this month and actually the weather gets so nice. We like to walk a lot in spring with my husband, but there were some days he was away and he walked with other Hivers and not with me. That was when he went to Hamburg to attend a Hive Meetup called BuzzParty Hamburg 2024:

From there he brought me some nice presents, Hive goodies and some edible rocks from Ninaeatshere :))

May - even nice weather, so people decide to get married. I had some weddings to play at, as well as practice with my son for his performances and exams.

Oops, someone is not looking at the camera 😆

June was completely crazy as I had a lot of work in the school and my son also finished his school and had the exams for the university. We went with him to two cities to do the exams and he was successful in both places. Of course, he chose just one, Valencia.

I also had a concert with my choir and we went on a little boat excursion through the canals of one lagoon. I suppose this area now looks a bit different as this whole region was affected by floods recently.

July... I think this was the month we decided we should change the place of living. Not because we wanted it but because our landlord announced a 20 per cent rent increase. Having a child who is studying in a different city (his rent and living expenses) made us think twice if we want to continue living there at that cost that only tourists can afford. We had multiple options and plans for what to do and a lot to think about on several fronts. The intensive search for our new home started but we also travelled to visit our parents so the final decision was postponed for autumn.

August was still time for parents, family, friends, outings, butterflies, bike tours with my niece and another Hive Meetup in Novi Sad (Serbia). Back through Italy and France, we stopped in some nice places and at the end of August we were back in Spain. The search for our new home continued.

The days went by looking for and visiting apartments in many different areas and the nights were spent thinking... It was a difficult decision but I finally made it in September. My husband didn't want to pressure me (thank you) or rush me. He knew it would be my decision since I had a job that wouldn't be easy for me to leave and the place we found was an hour away. But there I was, happiest in the world with the keys to our apartment in my hands and spending my all free time that I was not giving lessons decluttering and cleaning. Dead tired, but happy. I almost didn't have time to sleep, it was constant work.

October was the month of moving, cleaning, decluttering and refurbishing. It was not easy, as this is a huge apartment and I worked full hours and days in the school plus I needed to select and pack everything from our old place and leave it in perfect condition. I had a hard time being around Hive as well, I needed a break. One post in that month - that was my Hive activity.

November went better as we were already at just one place (but still the same pace of working around the home) so I could manage to get back to Hive. Also, I had to get used to driving to my work and all, practice and having some extra performances with the choir but all is fine when you have peace of mind and take it easy. This is a funny photo my son made of me. 😆

December? Here we are, still in December, and celebrating these festive days. I think I will go to the fridge now and take a piece of that log cake I still have from yesterday... This last Thursday of 2024 made me go through this year that brought huge changes... if you made it this far with my post... thank you for reading. If not, it is also fine, as I didn't know this post would turn this long 😆

May we go through the memories of the current year and see what were the decisions that made us feel good and free, even though they didn't seem easy at first. Be happy, be yourself always, feel the love and peace that your mind and heart can give you, and spread that joy to others as well, I wish to everyone in the new upcoming year too. 🌟