Northrop New Year’s News 2022
Dear Family and Friends,
As we were sitting on the couch bemoaning the near end of our winter break, Matt remarked, “We just didn’t DO anything.” We meant to do things. We planned to go places. But then weather and illness thwarted those plans. As a family, we are so used to being busy that NOT being busy makes us feel at loose ends, untethered, and not in a good way. When Matt made his remark, I thought for a while and then I said, “We did do something. We rested.” Weirdly, resting feels unproductive, uncomfortable. We are realizing that we are finally coming down after the last two years of coaching and teaching during a pandemic. When you are in it, you just do whatever you need to do in order to parent, educate, and coach. It seemed like our brains and emotions were constantly in flux and in need of quick pivots. One quote that illustrates how I felt often in the last two years is from Frozen II: “When one can see no future, all one can do is the next right thing.” Many times throughout 2022, I leaned on these words to help me with decisions and not extrapolate every situation out too far. Transitions in life dominated our year - confirmation, graduation, and our oldest heading to college. My dad also transitioned first to an assisted living facility and now to a care center. It wasn’t easy, nor what my dad would choose, but with the help of my amazing, caretaking husband, my sisters, my aunt and uncles, Karla, and my dear friend, Cheri, he is safe and healthy. We just had to focus on doing the “next right thing.” My grumpy bear dad isn’t always happy, but we are grateful for the care he is getting.
Gabe
Gabe finished out his senior basketball season hitting some 3s and dunking in warmups (this earned him his one and only Technical which he says was worth it). He was captain for the track and field team, and again had many successes. Gabe earned All Conference for the 2nd year, advanced to the section earning points in the discus (4th) and high jump (3rd). He cleared 6-2 this year, though that height eluded him at the Section meet after hitting his head on the standard while attempting qualifying height. Gabe worked at Menards on weekends and throughout the summer. He graduated as Valedictorian of his class and gave a speech at graduation. I was thinking that he probably could have said, “This is probably the most that you all have heard me speak.” His excellent grades and great test scores earned him some local scholarships and two merit based scholarships at the University of Minnesota. Gabe has a job on campus in his dorm as a computer center coordinator which matches well with his Computer Science major. He enjoyed attending the Gopher home football games and is proficient at using the public transit system for adventures with his friends. He also makes good use of the fitness center on campus and is in a movie club. We are thankful for his smooth transition to college life, though we miss his quiet presence in our daily endeavors.
Ben
Ben is 17 and he still loves his VR gaming world and monetized his youtube channel, so that gives him a little bit of income. Ben passed his driver’s test and is enjoying the 1998 green Blazer that he got from my dad and Karla. He made a beautiful cutting board in Woods class and says his Global Studies class was his favorite. Ben played his last basketball games this summer and made the decision to focus on school, continue to weight train (current max 215#), and apply for a job. It’s been good for him to not have that obligation this winter. We know BB can be a grind, especially when you don’t love it. I saw a quote that goes along with this, too: “Parent the child you have, not the one you were.” Ben did well as a thrower this year in track and field, placing in the Section in the discus. He enjoyed another season of cross country where he earned a spot in the team’s top 10 and plans to run a half marathon with me this summer. We were very proud when he was inducted into the Minnesota Honor Society in November. Ben enjoyed being an ensemble member in the musical last spring and entertains us at choir concerts as well. Just tonight, we looked at him and thought that he may just be the tallest kid in our family now, surpassing Gabe, but not yet Matt.
Lyndee
Lyndee will celebrate her golden birthday on the 16th of January. She played both varsity and JV in basketball last season and is continuing to work on her skills as a post and as an outside shooter. This winter she is working on staying aggressive while controlling her fouls. She did very well in track and field last spring and advanced to Section in both the shot put and the discus and was an alternate on our state 4x100 team. Lyndee played with an AAU basketball team this spring and summer and enjoyed getting to know new players and new coaches. This fall she played JV volleyball as a middle hitter and supported the varsity team as a bench player. Lyndee still loves TV and watching shows as her downtime. Along with Ben, she was a part of the ensemble cast in the spring musical and will be in this spring’s musical as well. She plays trumpet in the band. She’s an excellent student, and though grades and tests can be very stressful, she presses on to maintain her 4.0.
Matt and Amy
One of the highlights of our year was a trip to Arizona in March with our friends to visit my dad and Karla. We hiked and ate great food and had a wonderful time. A month later, Matt flew down and drove them back to Minnesota. I knew it before, but my husband is the best. He has shown so much kindness and compassion to my parents and to me, both in times of crisis and in our day in and day out. In our regular lives, parenting, teaching, and coaching dominate all of our waking moments (and some of our sleeping ones, too). I am thankful for my work family and the great people with whom I get to coach. Matt returned to coach football this fall, and was still able to catch Lyndee’s VB games and some of Ben’s CC meets. Completing my 15th year of coaching cross country was rewarding and two of my athletes advanced to the State meet. We are now in the thick of basketball season and I am once again a parent in the stands and not coaching from the bench. It was a decision that I know is better for our family, but I still miss the interactions with the athletes during practices and games. As parents, we know that we are not easy for our kids to have in the stands. We are coaches, so we try to coach. And our kids resoundingly reject our efforts. We are working on being better sports (and school) parents and our kids might tell you that we need to work harder. Matt and I are both looking forward to track and field this year where we CAN (kind of) coach them. Both of our teams are hoping to replicate the successes of last spring. The boys three peated as Sub-Section, Section, True Team Section, and Conference Champions. The girls were Sub-Section Champions, True Team Section Runners-up, and Conference Runners-up. Our girls and boys teams are so fun to coach and we love to help them achieve their goals. We are surrounded with a talented and enthusiastic coaching staff that makes our jobs so much easier.
Travel
In March we drove out to Maryland to stay with Chris, Bree, and family. We had a wonderful time sightseeing in DC, shopping, hiking, playing lawn games, and just hanging out with the family. At the end of May, we were so grateful to our family and friends who came to Gabe’s graduation celebration. It was a raucous houseful that was also joyous and we felt the love all around. Our summer trip this year to California was filled with good hiking, pool time, working in the woods, shopping, San Francisco, Stranger Things, wood fired pizza, and of course, family.
Pets
Here’s the 2022 rundown–Dash - 11.5 years old still thinks he’s small (he’s not) and loves to cuddle. He enjoyed some time as an only dog in June and now is tolerating his much younger sister. After becoming an inside dog, the wanderlust still strikes him, but only once this year was he missing for any length of time. Does anyone remember the children’s book Harry the Dirty Dog? That would be Dash after his adventure. We’ve learned that when he doesn’t want to come inside, he pretends like he can’t hear us and ambles off into the woods. When he is ready to come in, he peers up at us with a look that says, “Oh! There you are!” Cat #5, Sunny and Cat #6, Luna are finally getting along and even snuggling together when it’s cold. They’ve both put on a bit of weight and now are affectionately called Chubs and Tubs. Goldie (Marigold) - 7 months - Yellow Lab. We forgot. We forgot how much work a puppy can be, especially now that our kids sleep in. Puppies do not sleep in. Puppies are up A LOT in the night, (though she is sleeping through the night now). Puppies pee in the house. We often say to her, “You’re lucky you’re cute.” And she is VERY cute. She will be a good dog, someday, just not yet.
We hope that you are better at resting than we are (or at least more comfortable with it). We hope that if you find yourself feeling untethered, you can simply do the next right thing. We are grateful that you are in our lives. We hope you find joy in doing the things you love in 2023. Happy New Year!
Love, Matt & Amy, Gabe, Ben, Lyndee, Dash, Goldie, Sunny, and Luna
