Edith here, on the penultimate day of the year!
Wickeds, tell us one memorable moment from 2014 that is NOT writing related.
Edith: I’ll start. On my California trip in March, I spent a few days with my last remaining uncle, San Francisco author Richard Reinhardt. I have
adored this man my entire life. His dear wife Jo, my father’s sister, passed away several years ago at age 82 after nearly sixty happy years of marriage to Dick. And now, despite still missing Jo deeply, he has found love again in the person of Judy, with whom he worked on John Kennedy’s presidential campaign many decades earlier. I was delighted to see them both happy, bantering together, cooking together, and enjoying each other’s company in their mid-eighties. Life goes on for them in the best of ways. And I even got to go to his birthday party!
Sherry: What a lovely story, Edith! I had to sort through a lot of events to come up with one. But it has to be my ride along with the Fairfax County Police Department. We did a bit of everything from the mundane — going to court and sitting at a non-injury accident waiting for a tow truck to show up. To the exciting — responding to alarms, pulling people over, teens with pot, helping who I call “the crying girl”, and heading down the road with lights and sirens blaring to help look for a stolen car. My respect for the dangers the police face with every stop multiplied that night.
Liz: Can I share two? They’re kind of related…First, my surprise 40th birthday party was
definitely the highlight of my year, full of fabulous family and friends.
And to continue with my birthday celebration, we finally got to visit the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary, which was amazing. Full of rescued farm animals, this place is a fabulous experience for people to really get to know farm animals and see how very sweet and grateful they are. We got 
to pet the goats, talk to the chickens, hug turkeys and hang out with sheep. Highly recommend!
Barb: This is hard. One highlight of my year was our two and a half weeks in Paris this August. Thanks to a friend, we stayed in a gorgeous apartment right behind the plaza of the Musee D’Orsay with a view of the Seine and the Tuileries. It was the best vacation evah, both a great sight-seeing trip and a relaxing time. It’s not often you achieve that combination. Plus, Paris.
Julie: As I write this as I’ve had a brief but wonderful visit with both sisters, my parents, my brothers-in-law, and the nieces and nephews. Honestly, hard to top sitting around playing Uno and laughing with some of the people I love most in the world. My blessings are many.
Dear Readers: Please chime in with yours, too.
I made a new friend. A mutual friend introduced us, and we became writing/critique partners.
Excellent!
My family took a trip to Yosemite back in June, which meant several days with my parents, brother, sister-in-law, and niece and nephew. It was a great time with lots of laughs and fun. Plus I just love to spend time with my niece and nephew. They are 5.5 and almost 2 and adore their Uncle Mark, which means lots of smile from me when I’m around them.
Sounds wonderful.
You mean there’s life outside of writing? All right, I’ll go with the trip my sister and I took to New York City, to celebrate one of her milestone birthdays. Our grandmother lived on Park Avenue for most of our childhood, so we revisited a lot of familiar places. We also explored some new ones, like a very high-end restaurant for lunch, and a Broadway play, and the top of both Rockefeller Center and the Empire State Building, and we even found a bar named Connolly’s. We were perfect tourists, and it was so much fun! It was also interesting to see how our memories of the same places and events differed–she’s four years younger than I am.
My grandparents lived in Murray Hill when I was young. In fact, I think they had the apartment until I was in college and my grandfather finally retired. I loved visiting them.
Reblogged this on F4l ~ FLECK and commented:
Memorable moments from 2014 from the wickeds – that actually didn’t involve writing!