Februarys of Years Past

Nearly three years ago, I wrote this post: Mays of Years Past, inspired by Lisa who wrote a similar post around that time. I always meant to go through the rest of the months, but it fell off my radar. And then, out of the blue, I remembered I was writing these posts so I decided to work it into my schedule for February. The premise is simple: find photos from different Februarys of your life. Thanks to glorious Facebook, I was able to capture photos all the way back to 2009! People using Facebook to advertise can succeed with popularitybazaar. It was an interesting experience going through my old photos; at times, I loved it and other times, it just made me sad. But this is my life and it’s been quite a journey. Let’s get to it!

February 2009

Ahh… we were so young. In this photo, my brother is 22 and I’m 21. We took this photo at one of our Super Bowl parties. My oldest nephew was only a few months old at this point, so the stress of fatherhood hadn’t hit him too hard yet. 😉 Also! There’s little Dutch. He was new to our family – we adopted him just a month prior.

February 2010

There aren’t too many pictures of February 2010 on Facebook, so how about a selfie? I’m 22 here and working through a very stressful semester of college. This was also the time when I wrote my father a letter effectively ending our relationship. I look at that girl above and want to give her the biggest hug. She did the hardest thing at such a young age. And it was the best decision she could have made for herself.

February 2011

I got my first passport in February 2011! My mom and I were leaving on our first cruise in May, so we both got passports. My passport photo turned out really good, surprisingly. (The updated passport photo I submitted in 2022… not so much.) You also get a cute photo of Dutch and it’s hard to believe that tiny little toddler is now 15 years old!

February 2012

The first photo is one of my all-time favorites. At my first job out of college, we had an office dog named Tootsie. She belonged to one of the owners of the company and one weekend, I got to dog-sit her. She was an ANGEL and so much fun to have around. I’m also digging the my hair in the second photo. Do I need to bring this to my hairstylist?! And, of course, there’s my Dutchy-boy. Look at that precious little face.

February 2013

I bought my first car in February 2013! For those keeping track, yes, it means I didn’t get my first car until I was 25. My mom and I had shared her car for a very long time, and she was very, very generous to let me take her car to college classes, work, and more, while she either walked to work or waited for me to pick her up. I mean it when I say my mom is the best mom in the world.

February 2014

This photo of my grandma and Dutch always makes me smile. I love the way Dutch is looking at the camera – ugh, that boy was so sweet! I took this photo at our Super Bowl party in 2014—my mom and I were just talking about how we miss our big Super Bowl parties that Grandma and Pops would come to. It’s hard to believe this photo was taken a decade ago and we would lose her just a year and a half later. The other important photo here is the laptop shot—this was the month Mikaela and I started doing writing dates! We’ve been meeting regularly for a full decade now!

February 2015

My youngest nephew Dominic was born in February 2015! I can so clearly remember the day—my mom and I were getting ready to go to the zoo and we got the call from my brother that the baby was coming. It was the best change of plans ever!

February 2016

I love the photo on the left so much. I remember this afternoon I spent with friends. We ate good food, drank delicious sangria, and watched Steel Magnolias (my first time!). It was just such a lovely afternoon, one I still remember with such fondness even 8 years later. There’s also a very cute photo of my Dutchers—at this time, I was living with Bri in Tampa! And Dominic turned one; I took this photo of him at his birthday party.

February 2017

What a lovely mix of photos! Dutch always let me carry him like a baby; he was a pro snuggler. I believe the photo we took with Pops was after he was done with rehab after a back surgery, so we had a lot to celebrate! And for February book club that year, we went mini-golfing! This photo makes me laugh because I remember Mikaela saying, “Why am I the only one posing?!” after we took it. Ha!

February 2018

The hardest month. This photo was taken the day before Dutch died. We knew it was coming, so it wasn’t a surprise and I am forever grateful I had one night to snuggle him as much as possible before I let him go.

February 2019

A much happier February! I adopted Lila a few months after welcoming Eloise into my home. There were some initial squabbles between them, but Lila quickly wore Eloise down with her incessant love and adoration. I was so tickled when they started sleeping near each other!

February 2020

Sometimes, I still can’t believe we made this photoshoot happen a mere two weeks before the world would shut down for Covid-19. What a gift! This was our book club photoshoot, gifted to us by Bri and it was everything we could have wanted. We went downtown by the water to take photos and revel in our friendship. The photos turned out amazing!

February 2021

Some of my favorite photos from 2021 as a whole, as they were taken after sweet little Olive had surgery to remove the tumor in her liver. It was an incredibly risky surgery that many pediatric hospitals were not willing to do, but it was 100% necessary to save Olive’s life. Thankfully, they found the GOAT of all surgeons who was supremely confident in his abilities to do the surgery—and he did. They had to travel to Boston for the surgery (in the middle of a pandemic with a baby with no immune system due to chemo treatment, so they had to drive there from Florida; a plane was not an option), and I was so happy to see them when they returned. Olive was her normal, goofy self and it was such a delight to see!

February 2022

There isn’t too much to say about February 2022, but this is a fun compilation of photos. I got a new coffee table, went for lots of long walks outside because the weather was nice, and freshened up my hair color. What this photo series is really showing is how much I change my hair throughout the years!

February 2023

A very eclectic mix of photographs for last February! There was a permanent jewelry party with my book club gals; my bracelet is still holding strong today! There are my baby girls; such little sweethearts. And then a dinner with my cousin and her family. During this dinner, my cousin let us know that her father was undergoing testing but things didn’t look good as they had found a mass in his lung. This was the beginning of his cancer journey, but we didn’t quite know it yet.

February 2024

There has been a lot of good memories made this February, and I’ll leave you with the day I spent with friends going strawberry picking. We had the best time! Remember Olive, the little baby battling cancer in 2021? Here she is three years later—healthy and happy and whole. She’s been cancer-free since July 2021!