Play by Play Day by Day with Amy Lawrence

I’m not sorry to put 2025 in the rearview mirror. The year was marked with some major disappointments, not to mention a challenging cross-country move. But I don’t want to overlook the sweet moments and memories that are worth hanging onto as we jump headlong into 2026.

My husband and I climbed Mt. Washington, an exhilarating experience on the most perfect weather day imaginable. We spent a week in rural Kentucky, working with the community and exploring a new part of the US. We vacationed in one of my favorite spots in South Carolina. We rode horses! We hosted family members and showed them our town and the Big Apple. After 12+ years working overnight, I finally ended my run as a vampire. I started a new job with so many fun challenges.

In 2025, we spent months researching the adoption process and all the various paths to find the right fit for us. Calls, conversations, lots of paperwork and education courses–now we’re halfway through the process. Looking forward, with a ton of prayer, we decided it was time to move south to be closer to our moms and other family.❤️

Of course, moving meant saying good-bye to a place I called home for 13 years. Truthfully, I never would have picked New Jersey as a place to put down roots. However, when my career took me to CBS Sports Radio in lower Manhattan in 2013, I started fresh. And I came to appreciate the state for all of its beauty and opportunities (not to so much the high cost of living and traffic, ha). I stayed in New Jersey longer than anywhere else as an adult. I bought my first house there, and it was the first place my husband and I lived together. Part of putting 2025 in the rearview mirror is closing the door on a significant chapter in my journey.

Believe it or not, there are so many things I will miss about living in northern New Jersey, not the least of which is the amazing food in the area. With an intersection of so many cultures, the variety of authentic options is incredible. Tasty Italian homemade pasta, the best generational mom-and-pop pizza shop, the scrumptious Portuguese mariscada, genuine Greek fare, my favorite Thai spot, and a zillion diners with their gigantic portions. I’m not sure we’ll discover equivalents in the Houston area, but I’ll keep an open mind. In the meantime, I’ll savor the steak, brisket, pulled pork and Mexican food in our area.

Nothing exacerbates my culture shock more than 85 degrees and humidity at Christmas. Gah! A couple months into our move, I will readily admit I’m struggling with the climate in Texas. For the first time in my life, I’ve mowed the lawn in January!! And right on cue, family and friends in the northeast are getting blasted with snow which I LOVE and will dearly miss in the southwest.

Another favorite element of living in NJ are the four distinct seasons, including winter with its exhilarating cold (not to mention all the bugs and critters disappear for several months, ha). Spring means new life and a myriad of flowers. Early summer is beautiful with its low humidity and green everywhere. The fall is replete with vibrant colors and the return of crisp, cool temps.🧡 In 2026, I will have plenty of opportunities to practice NOT complaining about the Texas weather.

Living in northern New Jersey means the mountains are within an hour’s driving distance. I fell in love with hiking over the last decade. Those ten years are full of sky-high memories with my brother and his family, good friends, even complete strangers in a hiking group. Now it’s a passion my husband and I share regularly. I was able to introduce him to the Catskills and the mountains in western NJ across to the Del Water Gap. I’ll miss those rocky peaks, but we can’t wait to explore the amazing ranges and national parks in Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Wyoming!

Living so close to the ocean is another perk of being in Jersey. The beach will forever be my happy place, so I’ll definitely miss the proximity to the shore. One particular spot will always be special to me. Seven Presidents Oceanfront Park in Long Branch was my chosen destination whenever I could get away. It was also the beach where I sat and watched the waves for hours on a quiet Monday after my Grammy Helen died. A month later, I was back at the same beach with a friend who insisted we had to swim out beyond the surf to ride the waves. It was the first true joy I felt after losing Grammy.❤️

Beyond the weather and the topography, I will forever cherish the Jersey relationships with special friends and neighbors. They helped me move in (and out), revved up their leaf blowers and snow blowers in my yard, included me on holidays and took care of my pets when I was away. They answered every call and let me know I wasn’t alone. I met most of those friends in the church I attended for more than a decade. Stretching back to 2014, I taught elementary school kiddos during service almost every weekend. Some of those kids were in my class 4 or 5 years, so I saw them grow up. God blessed me as I served and prayed for my own chance to start a family. And the past few years, the Lord used a little girl named Mona to remind me why I teach.❤️

For 11 years in New Jersey, my church was my community. I miss the fellowship, the volunteering, the worship and the joy, even as we search for a new church home here in Texas.

The most poignant and bittersweet parting is for my pets, my three musketeers. I moved to New Jersey in 2013 with two cats and a dog. Sweet Ellie was 18 years old when I had to say goodbye to her in May 2020. Four years later, my heart broke into a zillion pieces when I lost Penny at 14. And I waited as long as I could, but I had to let Sugar go a few days before we left. The trip would’ve been excruciating for her. I didn’t want her to suffer through it as frail as she was.💔 Those three furry goofballs were gifts from the Lord that helped me survive the most challenging years of my personal life. They’re part of every memory I have in New Jersey. It will always be their forever home, and I left a huge piece of my heart with them.

Most good-byes are tough, some painful. My 2025 featured a lot of them. And it’s not always easy to let go of the old and step forward into the new, especially when it means drastic change. But God is faithful, and I continue to believe He will show us His plans and purposes for the next stage of our lives. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.❤️

This entry was posted on January 4, 2026 at 4:41 pm and is filed under Uncategorized with tags family, happy-new-year, life, love, writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.