One Year In The Books

A year ago today (June 4, 2012) we moved from College Station to San Antonio. As many of you know, our decision to move came after several years of dissatisfaction with the direction of Texas A&M ... and even then, our decision certainly was not angst-free. It was obvious that College Station was no longer the place we needed to be and a ridiculous sequence of unbelievably impossible events made it pretty clear that God was paving a very specific road to San Antonio. But when you're changing directions after 18 years -- old dog, new tricks -- and forcing four kids to come along as well, things can be rather complicated. The boys were fine with the idea but Hadley was super-stressed, and of course we knew that all of us were in for major adjustments.

In addition to all of the usual move-related stress, in June of 2012 we still had no clue what was going on with Hollis' medical condition. He had missed over 20 days of school since September, had several lumbar punctures, multiple hospitalizations in Houston, countless brain MRIs and CT scans, and yet nobody on his neurosurgery team had been able to figure out what was going on. In fact, he had another severe episode the day before we moved to San Antonio, which meant that he and Paige were back in the hospital in Houston while the rest of us supervised the movers and drove to San Antonio on the 4th.

In short, the first half of 2012 was the most stressed we have ever been. We were anticipating a positive experience at Trinity, but Hollis' medical future was still completely uncertain and we obviously were very concerned about the adjustments the kids were going to have to make.

Fast forward to June 4, 2013 and here is where we are ...

• Paige and I worked our tails completely off from July through May, but we had a good time and we're very happy to be here. We like Trinity, we like the people in our department, and we definitely value what Trinity tries to do for its students. We love the feel (and the size) of the campus, and next year should be a bit easier with our new class preps out of the way. Hoo. Ray.
• I don't do Facebook, but Paige just sent me what Reagan posted today (completely independent of my entry here) ...  "It was on this day last year that I drove to San Antonio with a sprained foot and two dogs in the back. I have officially lived in San Antonio for a year, and life has been amazing ever since."
• Paige also sent me what Hadley posted on Facebook this afternoon. "Today marks the one year anniversary of my move from College Station. This year has gone by so fast and it's been great. I've met some amazing people this year and I've made so many new friends. I can't believe a year has passed so quickly. Last summer, I never would have imagined my life to be like it is. Whenever I miss College Station I can talk to my friends here or back there and I know that I'm not alone. Honestly, I thought I would hate San Antonio, but I love it! I miss all of my friends in College Station and I hope to see y'all over the summer! This entire year has been all in all fantastic, and I can confidently say that I'm glad I moved. I was so upset about moving at the time and I didn't even give it a chance. I did, originally, dislike San Antonio, but as soon as the year started I loved it. I can't believe that a year ago, I didn't know anyone here existed, and now I can't imagine life without them! This past school year has been a blast and I'm so grateful to all the people who were willing to make me feel welcome the first couple of weeks. I'm so glad that I got to make such amazing friends this year and I love everyone of you! I don't know what I would do without y'all! Thanks for making my first year a crazy, fantastic adventure :)"
• Hunter doesn't do social media, but he has told us numerous times that he is way happier here than he was in College Station. And he was perfectly fine there.
• As for Hollis, he loves it here too. And (insert sound of knocking on wood) he has had no further  brain / spinal cord fluid complications since June of 2012. If you've not seen the short summary that Paige wrote on that and you are interested, the link is HERE. I can't give an adequate one-sentence summary of what was going on and the (again, completely ridiculous) sequence of events that got him fixed, but suffice to say that while the brain shunt might NOT be the "cure," having almost a year of peace in that department has been wonderful. And we hope and pray that he will continue to be problem-free for ... well ... forever.

In closing, I'd like to thank those of you from College Station (primarily students, but a couple of faculty thrown in for good measure) who have provided me with so many positive memories and wonderful life-long relationships. I'd also like to thank those of you in San Antonio who contributed so fabulously to our first chapter here.

Thanks Again and God Bless,

Mike