Finally Back to Work

The longest winter break ever has finally ended.  Everyone finally went back to school today.  It was bittersweet.  I know that lots of parents were ready for their kids to go back, but I loved being home with my family.  We had a great break.  We had some wonderful quality family time.  A few holiday gatherings, a few family outings, and some great family discussions.  It was just great.

But like all good things, it must at some point come to an end.  I think the kids were ultimately happy to get back to their routines.  And I guess, on some level, so am I.  When we are always going, it is hard to realize how great we have it.  But having some down time really puts our lives in perspective.  We are busy people with busy lives.  All four of us are consistently busy.  But we are lucky to be that way.  Chuck and I are lucky to be employed in the field we chose.  And although our jobs are demanding and we leave early and work late, we are employed.  We like our jobs and we are lucky to be able to have a nice long winter break and still know we are going back to a stable, reasonably secure jobs.  The kids have activities that have us running almost nightly.  But they are activities that they have chosen, they enjoy, and we are fortunate enough to be able to put them in.  It is great to see Calah and Gabe grow and develop.  And if that weren't enough (and it is enough, how could it not be enough), Chuck and I are fortunate to be able pursue our own hobbies and passions.  And yet, I feel like sometimes we are so busy, we are so overwhelmed, that we don't realize how lucky we really are. 

So I appreciated the long break.  I appreciated the chance to reflect on how fortunate my family is.  And I appreciate the chance to get back to the routine and experience all the good things that await us this new year.

New Year, New Resolutions, New Look

Happy 2014!

Isn't it nice to have a fresh start?  I love the new year.  I love starting over, starting fresh, every thing new again.  I love the idea of putting the past in the past, putting it away, chalking mistakes up to lessons learned, and cherishing the good memories.  I think the ability to look forward with a positive attitude and set goals is one of the greatest testaments to the human spirit.  No matter where you are, no matter what you are doing, no matter what your circumstances, nobody knows what the future holds.  And that is the great beauty and wonder of a new year? We don't know what it holds for us.  Of course we hope for the best, to do otherwise would be very odd indeed, and that optimism is beautiful and wonderful. If we really try, if we really hope and believe that anything is possible in the new year, then we get to go back to that child-like wonderment state.  Do you remember that?  When anything was possible.  You could be anything you wanted to be.  And maybe that isn't the case now, but still, we have so many possibilities ahead of us.  So I say, when making your new year's resolutions....dream big.

New Year's Resolutions....there were many years I didn't make them.  I guess I had lost my "child-like wonderment".  I didn't see any reason to try to change.  But I have a new attitude in the last few years.  I think resolutions are great.  And I don't think they should only be saved for New Years.  You can make a new resolution on a Tuesday evening after grading a rough set of tests that made you eat an entire box of Russell Stovers chocolates downed with a bottle of cheap wine (I mean, that is just an example, um, not that I have any personal experience with anything like that...um, yea...I plead the fifth).  Anyway, the point being, any time is a good time for a resolution.  And what is a resolution exactly?  When looking up the definition, this is the one that seems the best...A course of action determined or decided on.  So we are picking our path, our course of action, and going for it.  Maybe it will be difficult, most things worth achieving are.  Maybe we will stray from our path, nobody is perfect and it isn't about how many times you quit or stray, it's about how many times you start again.  Maybe we will fail completely, but we won't know unless we try and every failure (with the right attitude) can be viewed as a lesson learned.  I think the trick is to pick one or two things and make the decision to work on them.  This year I have 2 (plus a continuation of one from last year...yup, I kept one last year, and still going strong!).

1. Be more generous.  That means not just money, but time and talent, too.  I've been pretty selfish lately, it's time to give to others.
2.  Keep up on my blog.  I realize that there aren't many people who are too interested in what I have to say.  But I do like this blog and I do like to write, so I'm going to set a goal of two posts a week.  To help myself, I've updated the look of my blog.  Sometimes a fresh look is all you need to be inspired.  And a beach landscape will always get me.  Every. Single. Time.  :)
3.  My continuation of regular exercise....feeling pretty good about this one.  Have a new workout written and ready to go tomorrow morning.   The hardest part, it will be about -2 degrees tomorrow morning, and getting out of my warm bed at 6 am will be tough...but I know I will feel better afterward, so....yup, I'm going to do it.

And the best part is, even if I don't, even if my alarm doesn't go off, the snow is too deep to walk through, or whatever lame excuse I come up with, if I don't make it in the morning, I will resolve to do it Friday.  (But honestly, I'm going....no excuses)

So make some resolutions, even if you didn't start today, start tomorrow, or Sunday, or next Wednesday evening. Just aspire to change something in your life, make it better.  Let's look back at the end of 2014 and know we did everything we could to make it the best year possible.