Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Normally, January 1 spells new year's resolutions that promise all kinds of personal change for me: I'm going to lose weight and exercise more and write more and cook healthier and get better organized and...the list continues. But this year? This year I've hardly thought about it. I'm not sure why...other than maybe I've had so much change in my life over the past six months that I'm still settling in. Or maybe it's because every day I get up, I think those very same things: Today I will eat healthier so that the scales moves in the downward direction and today I will exercise...and so on. So why make a New Year's Resolution that has become the daily mantra?

But today is a great day for so many reasons. First of all, I don't have to go to work. It's currently almost 9:00 in the morning and I am still in my bathrobe. An entire day spills out before me with absolutely no plans. To top it off, all of my kids are home. Pretty sure it doesn't get better than that.

Secondly, it's the very first day of 2015. Clean slate. An entire year before me to learn and play and create.

And what better way to bid adieu to the old year than to remember its highlights? And so...here are a few:

1. Top of the list? Cruising for a whole 7 days with just my cute husband. That was a dream come true and every definition of fabulous and amazing and incredible and any other similar adjectives one can conjure up.

2. Starting a new career. This has brought a whirlwind of change in our lives but it has been good change. I work with incredible people and Roy has pitched in to help at home so that I barely have to lift a finger when I walk back through that door a little after 4:00 each day. I've learned so much and we're working towards goals and we even have a bit more freedom to play on the weekends. It's a good thing.

3. Savana graduated from college. I'm not sure how to express the feelings that wash over a mom when you watch your baby walk down that aisle and receive a diploma that officially ushers in adulthood. Though she has temporarily moved back home to finish her Master's, there's no doubt that Savana has become her own person: intelligent and responsible and driven and confident. I am so proud of the woman she has become.

4. A whirlwind Oklahoma Christmas. This always makes my list. Three days of family and crazy and great food and laughter and games and home. What's not to love?

5. The end of May I flew to Dallas and met my sister, Tami, and together we drove home to Oklahoma to visit Dad who had just had hip surgery. It was just the three of us girls there with our parents (all three of them), for the first time in probably 25 or more years. It was incredible and I loved every second of it. 

6. The week of Thanksgiving, the Lewis family and my mom piled in for  five days of laughter and fun. This has become a yearly tradition and we all look forward to it though it goes much too quickly. 

7. The five of us took a quick trip to Gatlinburg and stayed in a waterpark motel for a couple of nights. So. Much. Fun.

2014 has been a good year. We've experienced more laughter than tears; more joy than heartache. My parents are in good health and my family is intact. I am thankful. 

Life isn't always so easy--and I know far too many who are in the throes of devastation as I write about my own joys. Life can be difficult and tragic and sad--and we are all vulnerable to those times. And that is why, in my opinion, we must hold on to what is important. We have to treasure our loved ones and hold them close because we never know what the next hour holds. 

So for now...Happy New Year. I hope that 2015 brings courage to face difficult days and friendship and laughter and love in its wake for us all.