A Year of Breaking Even
As I sit down here to think back about 2015, I'm actually coming up blank. I usually can just start hammering away at the keyboard, but for some reason it's like staring at a blank canvas (which, by the way, can be rather intimidating). The first thoughts that come to mind, of course, are about the kids. I now have a teenager in the house, my baby (who is six) lost her first tooth, my husband started coaching baseball, my middle dude has a best friend, and we got to travel together to some new great places. I was fortunate to spend lots of time in the studio, and I discovered how much I love to paint on wood. I've also overcome the great obstacle of learning how to build my own website.
At the same time, it was a year of surgeries, injuries, a struggle finding work, changes in benefits, funerals, and the general stress of being part of the disappearing middle class.
I guess that means that we've had just about the same year as millions of others. Times are changing, and lots of us can feel it in the air. It seems that there are far more people out there that are more anxious to get over this year that there were last year. For some its the global catastrophes that plague all our mainstream news broadcasts, for others its to put a year of personal tragedy officially in the past. Even though the calendar is a man made concept (based on nature, of course), its truly therapeutic to physically take down an old calendar and post a freshly opened, brand new, unmarked clean slate.
So here's to clean slates......bring it on, 2016! Do I have any resolutions? No, not really. I will start the New Year the same way I always do. I'll do my best to treat others with respect and kindness. I will dedicate as much time as I can to my family. I will live in the moment while keeping an eye on the future and and ear to the past. I will continue to step out of my comfort zone and expand my horizons. Most of all, I will wake each morning thankful for each day I have in this amazing and wonderful world, and I love living in it.