Our Keeps & Deletes for 2024
A month by month review of one of the hardest years in recent memory
Happy New Year’s Eve, friend.
For us, this year simultaneously went by in the blink of an eye and also felt like a hundred years. It’s funny how time, or at least the perception of time, changes when you become a parent. Or maybe it just changes as you get older? Days and weeks and months and years fly by now, and I would do anything to be able to slow it down somehow.
This year was a rollercoaster of emotions for us, and we both agree it was one of the hardest years in recent memory. We had a lot of family issues and tragedies, beginning in January when a family member of mine had a cancer scare (after keeping it private when we shared the news in the beginning of the year, I disclose who it was below). It tested us and challenged us in what we are capable of, both in our marriage and in our family. It was a year of great change (we sold a beach house! we sold our SUV! we hired a new team member! we hired a house cleaner!) and a year of returning comforts (staying at our beach house in the summer, school starting again in the fall, family coming over for Christmas).
This was a break through year for us of sorts, in many ways. We grew our Okay McKay audience, along with our Instagram audience. In fact, we gained more followers on Instagram this year than we ever have in any other year, which, after doing this for nine years, feels like an accomplishment. These old dogs still have some tricks up our sleeves! It also felt like a break through in other ways, some too personal to discuss even on here. Maybe we’ll share them with you one day, but for now, we’re keeping them close to us.
We started a family ritual at dinner last year called Keep & Delete, where we would go around the table and each say our favorite part of the day (our Keep) and our least favorite part (our Delete). It’s a fantastic exercise in recognizing that no life is easy or perfect, and that it always comes with ups and downs. We also love that our kids like to play it, too, with our daughter requesting to start it every night. It allows you to really be grateful for the good times while acknowledging the bad ones.
Remember: We’re aiming for a whole life, not a perfect one.
Like we did in last year’s post, we’re recounting our top Keeps & Deletes of the year in an attempt to put it all into perspective and reflect on the last 12 months. And since this is our last post of the year, we are wishing you love and light in 2025. We also want to thank you for making this such an exciting year for us and Okay McKay. There are almost twice as many of you here than there were when we started the year, and the fact that you would take the time to read our words and watch our videos and like our posts or comment your thoughts just means the absolute world to us.
So thank you, dear reader, for being here with us this year. We hope to see you in 2025 as well. xoxoxo
