Hmm, hadn't realised it's been over two years since I wrote anything here. LJ used to be my daily online-friends fix, then a handy record, and then... I don't think it's a coincidence that I got a smartphone two years ago. I never got set up to write or check LJ regularly.
Some elements of my life are very similar to two years ago
I'm practicing law part time while I look for an inhouse position which suits. The girls are textbook specimens of teenagehood - growing like weeds, animated with peers and moody with us, into celebrities and pop culture stuff we don't know. Clara sometimes wears a (clip on) nose ring and (temporary) green hair dye. Jill dresses in black and wore cat whiskers all of January because her favourite YouTuber's birthday was January 31 (and he likes cats? I don't quite have the whole story).
My MIL has moved from Vancouver to Kelowna, but our relationship is fundamentally the same. She's retired, tried to pick up some part time retail work but it didn't suit her health issues. I was on a vacation with Wendy the last time MIL visited, and DH said there was less tension on a daily basis with me gone -- but it was harder for him, not having me to vent to, either. MIL announced she'll stay in a hotel next time. DH chalks this up to her not enjoying life with quibbling teenaged granddaughters. If she does go to a hotel next time, we're considering that a win - we won't beg to have her stay here. She's also visited us less since she's bored of Toronto. So that part isn't new.
Some elements are very different.
I'm out of the closet: bisexual, also polyamorous. These two things are distinct concepts; my DH Julian (with whom I am continuing to live out our "happily ever after" <3 ), is straight and polyamorous. He's got a girlfriend and a something-like-FWB-friend, both of whom he sees weekly.
By contrast, my girlfriend Wendy and I are both bisexual and polyamourous. We've been together a year, and the anniversary of our first date is coming up (a week after Valentine's Day). It's a long distance relationship which works well for us. I'd like to date someone local occasionally, but haven't found anyone yet. (TBF I haven't put much effort into that, with so much else going on.) Wendy has a couple of local guys she's dating (I babysat her kids on Saturday night so that she could go see one of them. They're both shift workers so their schedules rarely mesh, and although I don't see Wendy very much, and would have happily spent the evening with her at home, I felt it was the right thing to do to send her out for the date. She left me with ice cream and the TV remote, and came home by midnight...)
My sister has cut me out of her life, both me and my DH, because she "cannot handle" our "lifestyle". Our choice to date other people while remaining happily married actually does not affect her in any way except in her own imagination, but so be it. My parents are very disapproving and suspicious of this set up but have not cut us out at least.
Another change is not having any travel plans on the horizon! That's entirely due to finances and professional obligations. Once I get a job or steady client, we'll be working on a trip, I'm sure! The girls have their eye on South Africa but that won't be for a few years yet...There was some talk of a cruise in the Greek Isles but DH has sworn not to travel with the kids ever again (?!) so who knows...
Overall I'm frustrated at some things (notably professional issues) and pleased with others (relationships with family and friends), and so it's same old, same old in the grand scheme of things, I guess!