a new year

Wow, in many ways 2014 flew by.  It was my busiest year in a long time and I blogged the least amount since I have started this blog, which makes me a little sad because I honestly just didn't have much free time.  Writing this blog is really important to me.  I don't have tons of readers at this point, although I used to have more.  But I write for myself and my family.  This is a sort of record of our life. Someday when the kids are grown I hope they will read it and remember these moments.  I am still really behind with our past summer and fall travels, but I will get to them, in good time.

One thing I have learned in life is that for the most part, we are all just doing our best. And my best isn't close to perfection.  That's okay kids.  That's what they call a life.

I am always really happy when a new year begins.  I love the idea of seeing how more of our life unfolds.  And trust me, there have been so many surprises lately, I can't imagine what 2015 will bring.  But I am ready.

Here are excerpts from our holiday letter.

2104 was a busy year with a lot of travel (many college tours).  We went to several places, including Oahu, Los Angeles, NY, Europe, and northern California.  We went on retreat with Amma, saw family back east (spent Father’s Day with Theresa’s dad, which was really special), and returned to Italy and France.  We spent time in beautiful northern California, due to the generosity of our new friend Dennis.  The boys went to see the 49ers play in Santa Clara.  While at home there was a visit from Sky’s childhood friend Naomi, a surprise visit from Uncle JP, a family concert to raise money for Shawn’s school, and many meals cooked at our local homeless shelter. And lots and lots and lots of music.

Shawn is doing well.  He is now eleven years old.  His life is about school, baseball and drums.  He loved playing the king in his school play last spring, raised money for charity by selling baked goods he made himself, and was thrilled on his birthday with surprise tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters.  He played baseball in the spring and pitched many games, had some great hits, and his underdog team won the championship. Shawn does well academically, and started a new middle school this fall, that he likes.  He loves his male teacher, who tells us that Shawn keeps him on his toes with his constant discussions of science and the universe. 

Annabel is really growing up.  She turned fifteen this year.  Her first love is music. This year she released her first album (an EP of four songs), called Conveyor. She recorded this at a top studio, (Thanks Lynn!)  Shawn played drums on the songs, and Gary produced them.  Annabel also played a few live gigs this year and attended summer band camp in Palo Alto, along with Sky and Shawn. Annabel is also really into science, and spends much of her free time learning about chemistry and physics. She is a good student and is already looking into colleges.  Here is a link to Annabel’s songs:

https://soundcloud.com/forestsong108

Sky is eighteen, a licensed driver, and very independent.  She helps us a lot with cooking, grocery shopping, and…driving!  Her focus this past year has been SATs and college - visits, choices, applications, scholarships…She hopes to attend college in California next year. She has taken several college classes at her high school, and next year will venture to the local university campus for more. She is interested in psychology, technology, music and photography.  She plays recreational tennis, and loves her coaches.  She still records many songs, mostly covers, with many tracks and harmonies. Here is her updated website: http://skylarmarks.com/ 

Gary continues to write songs and novels.  He is very involved in the kids’ lives.  He is the one to buy them new instruments, replace drum sticks, find music teachers, or teach them himself.  Annabel and Shawn are now playing piano, Annabel plays bass and guitar, and Sky plays drums.  The family performed a benefit concert this year. The kids all learned two of Gary’s songs and the four Marks musicians performed together for the first time.  In the spring, Gary jumped in to coach Shawn’s team after the head coach quit.  Gary was fantastic with the boys and taught several of them to pitch and hit.  The team went from being one of the worst and depressed teams in the league to being tied for first place and winning the championship.  Shawn hit the winning run, it was all very exciting.

Theresa continues life as mama, wife, cook, nurse, counselor, photographer, blogger. She is also a bit of a farmer, growing bananas this year for the first time ever.  She continues her meditation and yoga practices and is hoping to become a meditation teacher this year. She attended several retreats, and took a few trips: one to see her brother give a medical talk, to California three times to visit with friends, to New York to celebrate her parents 50th wedding anniversary with a party with all her siblings.  Congrats Mom and Dad!  T is planning to apply to graduate school next fall.

So, dear readers, if any of you are reading this, here’s wishing you Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!  I always love to hear from you, please comment and tell me how you are.