I wrote my first end-of-year retrospective 10 years ago, reflecting on what 2013 was like. Wow, have things changed in my life over that decade and going back to read over them is an amazing walk through my memories. While 2022 had some more challenges and a personal loss, it was also gratifying both personally and professionally.
StarQuest
I always start by talking about StarQuest as it is both my job and my apostolate. I love what I do, for the lifestyle it lets me have with my family, for the ways we can enrich other people's lives and faith, and for the amazing people I collaborate with every day in this work.
We've added another new show, The Secrets of Sacred Art, hosted by Kathryn Laffrey and Alix Murray, which explores sacred art in some amazing and unusual ways. It's a video-enhanced show, meaning that it's best enjoyed as a video to see the art as it's discussed. This is our fifth video-enhanced show after Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World, Secrets of Star Trek, Secrets of Doctor Who, and Secrets of Stargate.
Our other shows continue to evolve and change. Secrets of Star Wars has grown and evolved to include a whole new set of panelists as our original panelists have had to take a break or move on for various reasons.
We also said goodbye to one of our shows. Tom and Noëlle Crowe have taken their very popular show American Catholic History independent. Their wonderful show has grown beyond our network and they are making a go of it on their own and their first independent episode has just been released at the end of the year.
We're still looking to develop some more new shows, including another history podcast, but one focused on the whole of Catholic history.
Losing Mom
The worst part of 2022 was my mom dying in February. We had just lost my dad the previous September so this was a double blow. But while my dad's death was sudden, my mom had a long decline, suffering through the increasing burden of dementia. The real decline came after some hospitalizations in late December 2022 and she never really recovered. She spent the next month in and out of the hospital and eventually ended up in a short-term hospice where she died after only a few days. I was able to see her right before the end and took several of my kids with me to say goodbye to Grandma.
They were understandably distraught, but handled it as well as could be expected. They certainly held up well during the wake and funeral and all the other events of the following days.
My mom's funeral was on Valentine's Day, which seems appropriate given her heart full of love for her children and grandchildren.
Home and Home Improvement
We continue to replace major house systems this year after so much work in 2021 and 2022. In mid-summer our central air and heating system went out. We have an oil-fired hydro-heat system that goes to an attic air handler that also received cooling from an outdoor conventional AC. Well, at the height of summer the AC stopped working.
That sent me on the mission of replacing the system. In Massachusetts, there are hefty rebates and incentives for switching from fossil-fuel heat to a heat pump so I decided to do that. But the process required a home energy-efficiency audit, a subsidized re-insulation of the attic, getting bids from a dozen different contractors, and then scheduling the installation. In the meantime, we were sweltering so I went out and bought four portable air conditioners. Since we don't have casement windows, I had to get the in-room kind. There was one for each bedroom and one for my office, which is the hottest room in the house anyway. (In fact, I plan on keeping that one after I sell the others this coming Spring.)
Due to some miscommunication, we had to have the insulation guys come back and put more insulation in the attic after the heat pump installers left, but in the end, the insulation may be the best part. We've hardly had to turn the heat on at all this winter, which is a big difference from past winters. The oil furnace is still there because it now just heats our hot water so we use very little oil. Now if only I get that rebate check from the processor. (That's been a whole saga.)
Also in home improvement news, we had to replace our washing machine. The last one was probably 5 to 7 years old; I don't remember exactly right now. But it rusted out and started leaking everywhere. So I got a fancy new one that connects to Wifi and can be controlled from our phones and will let us know when the cycle is done.
Our over-the-range microwave oven also died this year and that too was about 5 years old. (I'm detecting a pattern of lifespan for appliances.) This one I replaced with one from Costco.
Ah, Costco, where have you been all my life? I have totally become a Costco Dad. I'm always thinking of things we can buy in bulk at Costco, especially the meat. I now grind my own pork and beef and butcher up whole pork loins into chops and roasts and beef loins into strip steaks and all the rest. I may start making my own sausage at some point. Part of the attraction is the variety of goods, part is the lower cost of buying in bulk. We can't get too much because we have so little storage, but I get what I can.
The microwave oven replacement was a good price compared to Lowes and Home Depot, and delivery and installation and haul-away were free, where it was not at the others. I just wish I'd had Costco when replacing the washer.
I also plan on using Costco to replace the tires on my van. My mechanic said I will need to do replace two of them soon, but Costco is a full $100 less expensive than anywhere else to do it.
We did have lots of car repairs this year. I spent $1,800 on the Honda to replace the front driver's side axle and to replace front and rear brakes and rear calipers. The van required $1,500 in repairs to the axle, brake pads and rotors, and an ABS sensor. But the cars are paid off and repair is still cheaper than a car payment.
And lastly there is one frustration that is still unresolved. When we had the giant leak and plumbing disaster of 2021, the plumbers put the new plumbing at the tops of the walls in several rooms. Our carpenter said he could build soffits to cover them. And I stupidly paid him in full for that work as I was paying off the other contracts for work he completed and now he's been ghosting me ever since. I email, text, and call him for weeks, sometimes every day and then I will threaten a suit in small claims court and he then responds and promises. Maybe he even comes by the measure. But then he disappears again. Rinse and repeat. It's been over two years. He's got about $2000 of our money and I don't have the cash on hand to hire someone else. Hopefully I will get resolved in 2024.
A Wedding and an Engagement
After two weddings of nephews last year, we had a wedding for a niece this year. My sister's daughter Kateri was married in a lovely ceremony followed by an intimate reception at a venue on the Massachusetts coast. The highlight for me was the ice cream truck they brought for dessert. Any ice cream you wanted! Oh my.
Another one of my nephews got engaged. This is the third of my brother's four sons to take this step (they were the two married last year). Domenic is planning to get married in 2025 (I think, it might be in fall 2024). He has a lovely young woman as his fiancée. I am impressed by the young women my nephews have found, a testament to their quality of character. (And the very nice young man my niece found). The outlook for 2024 is that there's the possibility of one or two more engagements. We'll see.
Speaking of newlyweds, one of my nephews married in 2022 is a lieutenant in the US Army, a Blackhawk helicopter pilot with the 3rd Infantry who was deployed to Eastern Europe for 9 months this year, which is understandably a burden for someone just married. But he came home safe in November, and we got to see him at Christmas. Domenic, his brother, is also a newly commissioned officer in the Army, currently as a combat engineer in the Army Reserve.
Faith Life
Our spiritual home continues to be St. Edith Stein parish in Brockton, where we have some excellent priests and deacons and an amazing community, including very large Haitian, Cape Verdean, and other African immigrant communities.
We are struggling a bit with Confirmation prep for Sophia and Benedict, as their various anxiety, learning disability, and other issues have become obstacles to their taking part in regular classes. This is frustrating because, spiritually, they're ready to be confirmed. They just haven't jump through the hoops.
Isabella, meanwhile, over the summer took part in a vocation discernment weekend for high school girls conducted by the Daughters of St. Paul and has since joined in their monthly vocation club. She loves it and seems to be leaning in that direction for her future.
Scouting
The big Scouting news this year was Ben and Anthony changing troops. We had some repeated issues in their old troop with conflicts with other boys, including bullying problems. Meanwhile, we kept seeing the neighboring town's troop they would go to summer camp with and how well they got along with everyone there so after summer camp, we took the leap and transferred them. It was a tiny adjustment at first, but since then it's been amazing. They love it, they're doing so much great stuff, coming out of their shells, relating well and making friends with the patrol mates. I'm very excited by this change.
And yes, all four of the big kids went back to the same Scout camp run by the large troop the boys joined. It's an amazing operation. There's such a culture of the troop including men who were Eagle Scouts throughout the years. They all come back and participate and give back to the troop.
Even though Lucy is still a Webelo this year, they have a program where siblings can come, so I brought her for part of the week (I had podcast recordings I couldn't miss on Monday). I'm glad to have experienced it for myself and I know she did too.
Early in 2024, Lucy will cross over to the BSA Scout troop that Bella and Sophia are in, but in May, Bella will turn 18 and age out of BSA. But we're planning on having her become an assistant Scoutmaster for the troop and stay involved. And then next summer, all five of them will be off at camp, leaving me and Melanie home alone. Although, I think Melanie would love for me to go to and leave her alone in the house for an introvert's vacation.
Family Health
We're ending the year with a couple rounds of colds or some sort of bug. Everyone got sick in November and then the day after Christmas we were sick again.
The family has been generally healthy otherwise. We're looking at more braces for a couple of children and we've got growth pains. The big issues are mental health and developmental. Like a lot of kids over the past few years, our kids are struggling with anxiety and four of them have been diagnosed with clinical anxiety disorders, which means four therapy appointments every month and four psychiatrist visits. Luckily, they can all be Telehealth, but it's still a lot. The good news is that it seems to be helping and we can see definite improvement in everyone.
A big addition to our family health has been karate lessons. We enrolled Sophia, Ben, and Anthony in a local karate dojo which has done wonders for their physical and mental fitness, social development, and confidence. Their sensei is a great teacher who never pushes too hard, but seems to find exactly what will motivate each child. He's not so intent on perfect form as he is on them learning how to defend themselves. And he spends as much time on life lessons as he does on karate lessons. Melanie and I low-key compete to take the kids to their lessons because we enjoy watching him teach. Since they started in June, the three of them have reached their second earned rank of orange belt.
Family Visits and a Vacation on the Lake
We had only one family visit this year. Both of Melanie's parents flew up from Texas to come on vacation with us to the lake house we've rented before on Great East Lake in Maine. I've gushed before about how wonderful this place is, and what a blessing it is to be able to rent (at a decidedly below market price from a friend). We'd had Melanie's sister come up in a previous year, but this time I suggested her parents come. And I think they loved it. Not only the relaxing lake life and weather much cooler than Texas in the summer, but also spending so much time with the grandkids. We didn't go anywhere special except to church and the store, which is the way we like that vacation. Just lots of time swimming and canoeing and kayaking and the like.
Then Bella got the idea that she'd like to visit her grandparents in Texas. So in October, we brought her to the airport where she flew by herself down for a couple weeks there. She got to hang out with my in-laws, do her school work in a quiet place, uninterrupted. And she got to see my newest niece. Melanie's brother Tim and his wife had a baby girl in February so Isabella got to see her and hold her.
It was strange having Bella away for two weeks. I know it was especially an adjustment for Sophia and for Melanie. But it's the first step in her spreading her wings.
Tech
It was a good tech year for me. This was an upgrade year for my phone so I got the new iPhone 15 Pro Max. I had got the iPhone 11 Pro Max four years ago, and then went down to the smaller iPhone 13 Pro, but decided to go back up to the Pro Max, partly for the additional camera capabilities in the Max. Once again, it's an amazing phone. The increased telephoto capabilities are great and I really am glad they're moving to USB-C on the phones.
One thing I've never been able to do is play A-class video games because I didn't have a console or a gaming PC. So it kind of shocked even me that I bought not one, but two new gaming devices, the Steam Deck and the Nintendo Switch. I'd had some cryptocurrency that I bought a while ago and it had appreciated a little, not like "I'm rich!" But enough to buy the two devices. I'd heard so much good stuff about Tears of the Kingdom and wanted to try it on the Switch. And the Steam Deck can play most Windows games, and I wanted to play the Star Wars ones.
What's interesting is I never got far in the Star Wars games. I think I'm too old or lack the reflexes. But the kids love them. They all played Jedi Fallen Order all the way through. Then when they beat that, they all started playing Star Wars Battlefront. I also showed them Mario Kart on the Switch, which is a great way to get the whole family playing. And the boys discovered Super Smash Bros from their Scout troop.
As for me, I started playing American Truck Simulator, which is very much my speed, and is very relaxing. What's funny is that it runs on my Mac. I also picked up a couple of other older games, No Man's Sky and Horizon: Zero Dawn. I've drifted from them both as I completed a lot of the story of No Man's Sky. Horizon: Zero Dawn is a lot like the fast reflexes required of Jedi Fallen Order, although I did get further in that one, but I ran into an obstacle and kind of left it for a bit At the end of the year, I also picked up Baldur's Gate 3 on sale and, wow, is it fun. It's not fast reflexes for combat and the story has a lot of depth. I've only had it a few days, but it's fun.
Books and Hobbies
I got back in my groove of book reading this year after missing my goal in 2022 and 2021 and read 35 books. In 2020, I read 43 books, but in the next two years I read 22 and 21. The problem was that I started reading Twitter again, which took up my reading time. So this year, I gave up Twitter and eventually got a new Kindle Paperwhite and got back on track.
I started the year with Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy which was very good although long as he usually is. I can see how the later Stormlight Archive, which I read a few years ago, is a kind of development from this earlier work. They're separate worlds, but much of themes and the intricacies of world building are similar, yet Stormlight goes deeper into the details.
I also read a bunch more of Martha Wells' Murderbot series, which is also very good. I enjoy the first-person narrative from an individual that I'm not convinced is not a real person who only thinks they are purely a construct. And I mean that the way Wells has conceived of how Murderbot exists as part-machine, part-organic may make it actually human with machine parts. In any case, he clearly acts like a socially awkward misanthrope and the books are often funny.
While I'm waiting for Jim Butcher to continue the Dresden Files, I read the first book of his new Cinder Spires "series", which is good timing because the first book came out in 2015 and he only has just this year released book 2 as well as a short story. He has proved to me that I can enjoy his work beyond Dresden and the Cinder Spires world is another fascinating exercise in world building, combining elements of scifi, magic, steampunk, and the Age of Sail (early 1800s). The characters and dialogue also have his usual flair. I also read the second book from Butcher's son, Jim Jr., which is part of an urban fantasy series. I like it, maybe not as much as his father's work, but he's young yet and still developing his writing style and ability.
Other fiction included a YA series from Timothy Zahn called the Dragonback series, which I've recommended to my kids. We all love his Star Wars novels and I thought I'd give this a try and I enjoyed it very as did my kids who've read it so far.
On the non-fiction front, Ian Toll's Six Frigates about the beginnings of the US Navy was excellent. I'd known about the Barbary Pirates and the "shores of Tripoli" but the detailed account was excellent and made me wonder once again why Hollywood keeps rehashing and rebooting stories when they could make original films about the amazing events of history. It would make a great movie. I also read Rick Atkinson's excellent Liberation Trilogy about the US involvement in the European Theater in World War II. Most of my WW2 knowledge has been about the Pacific Theater and this was a great overview of the war starting in Africa and moving into Italy and then from France to Germany. It was so well-written and made an excellent companion to my viewing of Band of Brothers (see below).
I also read Jeff Shaara's novelized story of the Battle of Midway called The Eagle's Claw. I was very familiar with that story, but the book itself brought out some new perspectives. Another novelized history was Mark Sullivan's The Last Green Valley about an ethnic German family in Ukraine toward the end of WW2, caught between the advancing Soviet Army and the retreating German Nazi army, fleeing their homes to the West. The story is harrowing and topical given the war today and also personally relatable since we found out this year that my mom's Jewish father and his family originally came from a village west of Kyiv which they escaped in the early 20th century to avoid the pogroms. I won't give away the whole story, but it's a harrowing tale of sacrifice and love and determination. A must-read.
As for hobbies, I continue to build LEGO sets for fun. I build a model of the Mars rover Perseverance, which was the biggest set this year, plus a Star Wars X-Wing and a small set from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I also bought the Star Wars LEGO Advent calendar which has you build small things every day from December 1 to Christmas Eve. The kids particularly enjoyed watching me open and build it each day.
Movies and TV
I didn't go to the theater much if at all in 2023. It wasn't a great year for new movies. Melanie and I both enjoyed The Greatest Beer Run Ever on AppleTV+, based on a true story about a guy in New York who decides to bring beers from home to all his neighborhood pals fighting in Vietnam. It's funny at times and scary at others, even as you marvel at the combination of naïvete and grit shown by the protagonist.
I also discovered the Denzel Washington Equalizer series, watching the first two films. I particularly enjoyed seeing the climactic showdown happen in a place very near to where I live. I also saw Avatar: The Way of Water, which was epic in scope as expected, but has so much CGI that at times it felt like an animated movie. Plus the eco-message is very heavy-handed. Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, meanwhile, showed that you can make a fun D&D movie that is true to the game and a good movie. All the previous attempts just kept falling flat, but the key it turns out is not to take yourself too seriously, but also not to mock it either.
There were lots of superhero movies. Marvel films in the current phase continue to disappoint for reasons too long to go into here. The Batman film was dark and gritty and good.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, however, was not as bad as some people said and I thought was a pretty good end for the franchise. (Please don't reboot it or try to continue with someone taking up his mantle or something.)
Speaking of Marvel, the streaming series are actually better than the movies right now. Melanie and I both enjoyed American Born Chinese and Loki season 2, although Secret Invasion wasn't great (I heard they had to change the story from a Russian invasion of Ukraine for obvious reasons and that hurt it).
Unexpected new series that turned out to be good were Silo and Monarch on AppleTV+, The Ark, The Last of Us, Night Agent, Citadel and Kaleidoscope, which had an interesting fractured approach to telling the story. Every episode took place at a different time over several decades and Netflix served every viewer the episodes in a different order. As a family, we were very excited to watch the Star Wars Ahsoka series, which was really a sequel to the animated Rebels series.
A number of series that I watched ended this year. Of course, Ted Lasso was great again. The third season of Picard was the best yet. I will miss the Jack Ryan series too. And I don't know if I will continue to watch The Witcher without Henry Cavill in it.
My favorite series of the year was an old one: Band of Brothers. I finally got around to watching this 20 years after it came out and it lived up to the hype. It was excellent and was sad to see it end. Damian Lewis was excellent in it but so was the whole cast. I then watched The Pacific, which came out about a decade later and while it was good, it wasn't as good. I think that's because it lacked the central heroic character of Dick Winters, a genuinely good man who you could follow through the series. I am looking forward to the third series related to these ones called Masters of the Air due to come out on AppleTV+ this January.
Plus I've been watching Doctor Who classic series for my podcast, and the 60th anniversary and Christmas specials at the end of the year. And Star Trek Strange New Worlds which is the best of the new series. I continue to make my way through Babylon 5 and Cobra Kai for the first time, as well as rewatch Stargate SG-1.
Podcasts and YouTube
I continue to listen to much the same line up podcasts I have in recent years. I am glad to see the excellent How Music Does That has come back after a couple of years absence.
On YouTube, I also continue to discover the occasional new channel that grabs my attention. Among my new discoveries this year is Made with Lau, a channel featuring an elderly Chinese chef showing how to make recipes from his home kitchen as filmed and translated by his son. In addition to great food, it's also a very family oriented show. I've also started following the Butcher Wizard, who is a guy who has worked in restaurants and butcher shops giving advice on how to buy, cut, and cook meat. I think Maxlvledc is a new addition in 2023 too. His channel features discussion of lots of Every Day Carry (EDC) gear, mostly pocket knives and flashlights, but branching out as well. I have to admit that he has got me to spend money on a couple occasions but the stuff I got was worth it.
Looking Ahead
In 2024, Isabella will turn 18. That would normally mean we'd be deep into the college search, but given her learning disabilities, we've agreed that she'll take another year of homeschool to get caught up. Other milestones for her we're preparing for are her driver's license and her first real job. Plus she and I are planning a road trip together in January to go to the March for Life in DC, where she will meet up with some of her friends she's only known in an online homeschool group.
Otherwise, 2024 feels kind of wide open. I haven't thought about a summer vacation, but I'm leaning toward a camping trip to someplace new, maybe a national park we haven't been to. I would like to go camping more with the kids, although scouting does get them camping a lot already. Maybe I should just take a weekend and somewhere myself while they're off with their troops.
Melanie has been talking about the family going down to Texas in April for the big solar eclipse event and to see her family, especially her baby niece. But that involves either a bunch of expensive plane tickets or a multi-week cross-country drive. Or maybe she'll go alone.
Because of the writers' and actors' strikes in 2023, the outlook for entertainment media is lessened. Some of our favorite shows will have new seasons, but a lot of movies and TV shows have been pushed back to 2025.
I hope that the family remains healthy and that our positive progress as a family continues. And I thank God for the gift of another year and as always we trust in Him whatever comes.
See my previous entries in this series: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013
