Are we getting old?

We have been asking ourselves this question for a number of reasons recently, but the top three are:

1 - While I have been finding (and plucking!) gray hairs for a couple of years, I noticed a significant increase in gray hairs while we were in Peru. And now Tony is joining me with a handful of silvery hairs showing through his dark head of hair.

2 - I've noticed a downturn in my capacity to remember details, which is unsettling for someone who is known for having a good memory! Experiences have always stuck in my mind better than facts, but I now seem to retain even less factual information than before. Upon sharing this with some friends who are, if only slightly, younger than us, it was affirmed that I'm not the only one realizing this. The suggested culprit? The internet. Our friend is doing mind games to help him stay sharp and I'm setting out to do the same.

3 - We talk about the weather - all the time. I'm still convinced that this is natural given our move to a new climate and the amount of joy we get from warm bursts of sunshine. But still, we do talk about the weather more than we ever have before. Hmmm...

But we're quite comfortable with all of these signs that we are in fact seeing the signs of growing older at the young age of 28. : ) The real reason for sharing this is to justify our reasoning for devoting a post to the changes in weather that we've enjoyed this past week!

Over the winter months I learned that no matter how mild it looked outside, it was bound to be freezing when I walked outside. So after two days of being pleasantly surprised by the mild weather earlier this week, I finally trusted the view from the window and brought out my spring coat. It was the first day since late October that I've left without my scarf and mittens. It was wonderful!

This weekend I noticed several shops have planted flowers in their pots and I'm wondering if a) we're all so eager for warmer weather that they've planted flower prematurely or b) it is a sign from the locals that warmer weather is indeed coming. Let's hope for the latter!

I never heard the outcome on Groundhog Day this year, but it's looking up for Edinburgh!

Learning to Be Brief

I have recently become aware of the difficulty I have in being brief when it comes to writing. I recently gave into peer pressure and participated in the Facebook chain letter activity and posted 25 random things about myself. Only one entry was less than 2 lines long. I have recently heard several people expressing their distaste for writing long emails, but have to confess I prefer writing thorough emails to brief ones. This probably explains why my email inbox is currently loaded with messages awaiting responses - I don't have the energy to write good responses after a long day at work, so they remain unanswered rather than receiving brief responses. I think this is also the reason my blogging activity has been so low - I can't bring myself to write brief entries when there is so much to say since a previous entry, and I just don't have the energy to write thoroughly at the end of a day. I have trouble with being brief - just look at the length of this explanation about the issue of brevity!!

I recently read a challenge for people who utilize email at work to keep replies at 2 sentences. I interpret 2 sentence emails to be cold and unengaged, so I'm challenging myself to keep work emails to 5 sentences this week. Maybe one paragraph would be a good start for personal emails? And to break my cycle of waiting until I have time to write a good update on here, I'm going to post a list of brief updates from recent weeks here and then try to post more regular, brief updates. Being brief doesn't come naturally, so no promises on the length of future posts, but we'll see how it goes.

For now, here is a random list of recent happenings that seem worthy of mentioning to those of you who kindly follow along with us via this blog:

1 - We just got home from a weekend trip to Inverness with our friends Christopher and Jackie (previously featured here as 2 of our Thanksgiving guests). We had a wonderful time and enjoyed many hours of great conversation, an uneventful but exciting experience for Tony driving on the "wrong" side of the road, and hours of soaking up the beauty of open space (something we've missed while living in the heart of the city). We've come home feeling so thankful for our friendship with C & J and refreshed by the beauty of God's creation.

2. There was no sighting of Nessie while we were gazing out on Loch Ness, for the record.

3. We have had 2 occasions of snow in the past month that were significant enough to collect on the ground. This has been a welcomed surprise and genuinely brightened my spirits for the entire day on both occasions.

(The snow coming down in front of my office building)

4. Tony is studying diligently and excelling in his work as a philosophy student. He received the highest mark in his class last semester and I am so proud of him. He is becoming more and more involved with the department and is enjoying the work with his adviser. Studying here has been a very fulfilling experience for him and I couldn't be more satisfied by hearing that from him every week.

5. We officially have plans to be back in Denver for 2 weeks at the end of June. We'll be there to dote on Baby Hodges when he or she arrives, celebrate my brother Mike and niece Nora's birthday on June 30 and soak up every minute of being with family and friends during those 14 days. We are THRILLED.

6. I get the standard 6 weeks of paid time off every year as part of my work contract - 6 weeks! The Scots are horrified to hear that Americans do not receive this same benefit and simply cannot imagine what it would be like to work under such conditions.

7. I have been shocked to hear several people say how much they love my American accent. I couldn't believe it when my coworker told me she could listen to me talk all day!

8. I have recently started knitting again after a friend back home encouraged me to wander into a knit shop and get a refresher session on what to do. It's taken 2 months to finish a scarf, but it is nice to have something tactile to do at the end of the day. I'm hoping to try a simple hat pattern next...should be interesting.

9. We hosted a small Super Bowl party since it was broadcast on a local channel. Our guests arrived at 10pm, the game started at 11pm and most of us felt our beds calling us at about 2am. I stayed up through most of the 3rd quarter but Tony was the faithful fan and stayed up until 3:3oam to finish the game. It was our only viewing of NFL football for the year, so I suppose it's understandable.

10. This "brief" post is quite long so I'd better cut it here. More frequent posts will be coming as I set out to embrace brevity when possible.