What a Difference a Year Makes

2012 was not my year. There are things about it that I loved—epic travels, building and deepening relationships with family and friends, rekindling my fledgling faith and desire for intimacy with God, and most of all, the precious front-row seat that I had to the buddy’s milestones—those things were delightful. All the rest? Not so much. It was rough and I felt every bit of it—on any given day, you could find me soaking up the hardship like a sponge and wallowing in the slog. I’ll be the first to say that a good mope can be satisfying. Fortunately, I can also say I've lost patience with downward spirals. It’s not who I am, nor is it what I want my son to learn about how to handle the bumps and bruises life will hand him. I choose to reset the balance of power between myself and my circumstances. All I can actually control in this life is my reaction to it. I hope by modeling that, with God and his daddy’s and my help, my son will become a man capable of the same thing.


2013 will be better. I’m certain of it.

Resolved

• Go back to eating vegetarian; you feel better when you do.
• Give hot yoga another chance.
• Go inside that Catholic church across the street.
• Make a decision about hair length.
• Drink wine with a friend at least once a month.
• Get live music back in your life.
• Take a break more often.
• Hang up your work clothes at night, instead of draping them over that cute reading chair in your bedroom.
• Rough-house with your kid more often.
• Re-read Phillipians; you love that book.
• Run a mile, just once. Then run another one.
• Smile at a stranger.
• Find a good book to read.
• While in Scotland, find a reason to inject, "och!" into a conversation.
• Accept help. Offer it, too.
• Sneak in a snuggle with your baby, every day, and inhale his baby-smell while he thinks you're simply playing on the floor.
• Be happy.