Dear Darlings,

2016 is gone. Cooked. Finis. Caput. Over and out. D.O.N.E. Everything that happened is in the history books. Nothing can be changed.

For me, personally (I’m not talking politics or news or pop culture, I’m just talking about my little world), it wasn’t a bad year. For our family, it was a good (actually pretty near a great) year. Sure there were blips and blops, and all sorts of strangeness…complete with a few screw ups and some bad decisions. But in the grand scheme of life, we are a-okay. We didn’t have any traumatic injuries. We didn’t lose a loved one. No one got divorced, or had an accident. We lived life in our little bubble and tried hard to ignore the chaos and pandemonium just outside our door. For me, personally, 2016 wasn’t one of those years where I just couldn’t wait to put a nail in the coffin and shove that S.O.B. into a watery grave, thankfully.

This year is gearing up to be different for me. A couple of months ago I was at a girlie lunch chatting and catching up with two of my favorite friends. We were talking about changes we wanted to make in our lives for the upcoming year. 2017 became #TheYearOfChange…we made it just for ourselves. It’s what we wanted to do and accomplish and change within ourselves so we could work to achieve our dreams, or exact a change on our worlds, both in our little bubbles and the world at large.

#TheYearOfChange…

For my kiddos there’ll be lots and lots of changes. Zach will turn 21 in February. His job next summer is not only in a different city, but a different state. He’ll be somewhere in the Southwest. He could be in New Mexico, Texas, Arizona or he could even end up in Hawaii (yikes!). Lucas will graduate from high school in June (omg!). He’ll spread his wings a little when he heads off to college next fall (OMG!). I’ll have a “only” child at home (and she won’t like it, not. one. little. bit.). Claire will get her full-on driver’s license in three short months (oh, for cripe’s sake, this is just too much!), and then she’ll be off toodling around town on her own. They’re growing and changing every day. It’s almost like when they were toddlers, and you could map their progress, except this time the changes are bigger, more life-altering, and more than a little bitter-sweet.

For me, #TheYearOfChange includes some pretty good ideas and resolutions.
Write more.
Listen more, talk less.
Give more and take less.
Ask more questions.
Make more time for of what’s important by wasting less time on what’s not.
Wear pants more often and leggings less.
Seek more knowledge.
Purge more and buy less.
Volunteer more.

(Most of these are probably pretty self-explanatory, but I want to clarify the one about wearing leggings. I love leggings. In winter, I have only one fantasy…big, cozy sweaters, fleece lined leggings, and my warm, wooly Uggs, with my leggings taking center stage. I adore my leggings. I’m comfortable in them…I’m just a little too comfortable in them. I have allowed my love of leggings to let me get soft and complacent where I was once structured and disciplined. So, the leggings need to be reserved for my reward at the end of a day. Of course, I’ve already broken this one twice and it’s only January 2nd, so you can see how well I’m doing with that one!)

The thing of this is, #TheYearOfChange shouldn’t just be an idea between three friends, because 2017 is a brand new year for all of us. We have to embrace it, the good, the bad and the bitter-sweet. We can’t do a thing to stop time from moving along, so we might as well make it good (actually, let’s make it a great) year by taking charge of what we can. #TheYearOfChange is for all of us.

xo,
me

Change is for the love of our children…