No resolutions – no word for the year – just life

(warning – long, personal journey post)

Last year I jumped on the band wagon and chose a “word” for 2015. My word was “acceptance”. The 3 major reasons for choosing this word were

1) I was feeling sorry for myself for not having enough quilting time because I was still working full time away from home (even though I truly do love where I work)

2) I was feeling frightened at the fact that my mother was getting older and her Parkinson’s was wearing her down and

3) I was angry that our only grandchild was diagnosed with moderate to significant autism.

So, how did I do with my 2015 “word”?

1) I found out early last summer that the company I had worked for for nearly 30 years was being sold. Somehow this news caused me to not only accept the fact that I liked my job, but it changed me into the thinking that I was truly thankful to be able to work in order to support my quilting habit. Hence, I was able to focus on my problem and chisel out a few more hours each week just for quilting. 

2) My fantastic sister and her “saint” of a husband built a new garage over the course of the summer with a delightful “mother-in-law” apartment for my Mom. Her new attitude is working miracles on her mental and physical state. I am so very thankful!

3) Our grandson just turned 5. My son and his wife are fantastic parents.  He is enrolled in a special school which he loves. We are blessed to be able to have him visit overnight one night every week. He has made fantastic strides to fit his square little pegs into our perfectly round world. It still pains me to see how hard he works sometimes just to make his point known. However, I have not only accepted his diagnosis, but I have embraced who he is and I am thankful every single day for this little man!

So, I did alright by my 2015 word and by all rights should in fact choose “thankful” as my word for 2016. But, I feel that life is too complex for me to choose just one word. There are so many words that describe me and who I am and describe the goals I have set forth for myself.

So this year I am going to write a personal “mission statement”. I won’t bore you with the details (too late for that one, I’m sure). But I will tell you that “creating” will be at the top of my list. I quilt every day, but this year I want to focus a bit more on new ideas. I hope to share some of my fantastic progress in the coming year. Woohoo!

I hope your new year is full of adventure – quilting and otherwise!