Happy New Year!

I love the beginning of anything new.  As a kid, I loved the fresh start of a new school year - the notebooks were blank pages awaiting new insights and knowledge, book spines were straight and lockers sans clutter holding only the lingering pine cleaner scent.  I love opening the mailbox which beholds a brand new edition of one of the several magazines to which I subscribe.  Although I can pick up copies of the same magazines for free from my library, nothing is better than an untouched magazine.  I love a new car, a new and empty house, the start of a new job  - anything that promises a fresh start.

Why is that?  Why is “something new” so alluring?  Is the old really that bad?  Was this past year really that terrible?  As I look back over the last 365 days, well unfortunately, I have to say “yes”!  This year sorta sucked!  My daughter had problem upon problem resulting in hours upon hours sitting in waiting rooms, therapists’ offices and clinics. This resulted in tons of copayments and countless hours of missed work.   It also resulted in a myriad of stress-related ailments that I myself suffered from and which I could do without.  It resulted in a lot of worrying about her older sister who I fear feels like she has to take a backseat to everything going on with the sick child.  Even my blog suffered (as you can undoubtedly tell as my last post was in October!)

Even with all our uncluttering attempts and de-stressing exercises, life was really unmanageable at times.  So as I go into a new year, I am looking forward to a blank page which I can rewrite my story starting tomorrow.  My daughter is doing great - hopefully that means fewer trips to the doctor and an end to the therapy.  I started my master’s program and I love it. I started running. I have planned more one-on-one time with both of my girls so they can feel the support and the attention of their mom without having to share it - at least for a few hours.  I am looking forward to a year of less - less buying, less consuming, less television, less toxicity, less time spent with the wrong people and less stress.  I envision one with more reading, learning, experiencing and loving. 

I think they call that living!