Looking Ahead for Twenty-Fourteen and Fondly Saying Goodbye to Twenty-Thirteen

Saying goodbye to twenty-thirteen is kinda bittersweet. It was a year of first on a lot of levels, some good, others not so good. One thing it did provide was a new outlook on things in my life and a new found gratitude for the things I often take for granted.

Both my husband and I had minor issues with our health, but that being said, he was in ICU the beginning of the year and I had surgery in the summer, and if that wasn't enough, we finished December with another minor surgery for my husband. I learned a lot from all of these health experiences. The major ones were neither he or myself make a great patient and we are both about as chicken as chicken can be. If you could only imagine the sights of the two of us trying to take care of the other.....I like to rule with the iron fist when I am the nurse taking care of the patient and I like to rule with a iron fist when I am the patient, and not too sure the nurse is competent. Yes....it's all about lessons learned.

Above all the lessons learned this year, the one of taking care of your health is first and foremost. I took that lesson seriously, and decided to try and lose some weight this fall. I was able to drop 21 pounds, but then the hustle and bustle of the holidays rolled around, and I sorta just stopped obsessing about losing any more weight. I decided to hop on the scale the other day and was thrilled I had not gained any of that lost weight back, so I am confident to jump back on the band wagon and keep working towards my goal.

I learned that its ok to not be able to do all I think I should be doing, whether it be housework, cooking, cleaning, sewing or just surviving the day. I may need to work on not being so lenient with myself in 2014 as I am thinking my word for the new year will be "simplify." I seriously have come to a point where I am sure less is totally more....and this next year, I plan on trying to downsize and pass on some of the things I have told myself I have to keep for so many years. I know it will be a challenge, but I am up for it.

I also learned, that the most amazing experiences can turn into moments you will never forget. This fall, I casually mentioned to my brother of an event in Dallas coming up and I had thought about going. I never dreamed he would have taken that to heart, but he did. He purchased tickets for us to go. I could hardly believe it. I don't recall ever in my adult life spending an evening with my brother..just me and him. It truly, in all it could be, was the highlight of twenty-thirteen from start to finish.

He picked me up and we were off to Dallas to see Theresa from Long Island Medium. I could hardly contain myself as I expected that show to be the highlight of the evening. I expected a reading and to hear from a family member who is no longer here. Sadly, it was sort of a let down when that did not happen, but in all actuality, that was not the lasting memory of the evening.

True to Dallas fashion, the traffic was starting to back up as we made our way into Dallas, so my brother got off the freeway and took an alternate route, which happened to take us over the new Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, which of course I had never seen or been on......Dallas and myself are not often two words in the same sentence!  I expected the road across that bridge to be packed with cars, but the most amazing thing was, there was no cars AT ALL on that bridge but one. As we started across the bridge, we noticed a car stopped on the side of the road. There was a girl standing beside the car and a guy on one knee, and he obviously had just proposed to his girlfriend, and we saw the tail end of that event. My brother honked his horn and said they would always remember someone honking at them at that very moment, I have to agree, I believe they surly will.  It was sort of a magical moment to the start the evening.

We had plenty of time before we needed to be at SMU for the event, so my brother drove me to where Klyde Warren Park sets over a busy freeway in Dallas. I have heard about this park and always wanted to go, but had no idea where it was. My husband and I have talked about going there, but as things go, we just never had done it. The park was enchanting and I really enjoyed that part of Dallas and all the buildings surrounding that area. It was amazing seeing a part of Dallas I had no idea even existed, I loved it.

Once we made it to SMU and parked, we still had plenty of time and we walked across the road and ate tacos from a little taco place called Diggs Taco Shop. It was good and I enjoyed our meal....I enjoyed it so much I almost choked on my taco, but that is another story!

It was truly an enjoyable evening spent with my brother. I never would have thought it would have been marked as my most memorable moment from the year, but it was. I will always treasure that evening...even if I did not get the reading from Teresa that I was so sure I was going to get. The event was exactly what Teresa said it would be at the beginning, which was that it was entertainment, she was enchanting and funny just as you see her on television. Some of the things she talked about have stuck with me and I won't soon forget them. I appreciate the fact my brother wanted to take me to see her, as words can never really explain how much that has and does mean to me. I am so glad that it was in the other things we did that night that proved to be the front runner of the evening as far as memories go.  It was a enchanting night from start to finish.

Twenty-thirteen provided an opportunity to reconnect with family members whom I have not seen or heard from in all of my adult life. Once again, facebook provides a great outlet for that very thing. It has been heartwarming to reconnect with people I remember so fondly from my childhood and whom are still around to share bits of my life with and share bits of theirs. Family is family no matter how old we get or how long it has been since we looked at each other face to face. I am grateful for "finding" my relatives this year, they add a lot to my every day life and I am thankful for that.

I don't know what twenty-fourteen holds, but I am looking forward to whatever it may be. I plan on simplifying so many things this next year, I have a list of things I want to get done, and plan to check them off the list one by one.

Quilting will still be a front runner, and as this year starts, I am already staring behind the ball on several things that need to be finished or started. I try and not put so much pressure on myself, but it is a hard thing for me to do. I have set goals for my family, and intend to see them met. I pray I have the patience to deal with any adversity that may come in the process of meeting these said goals.

May we all find peace within ourselves, find joy in every day things, be optimistic about the future and get as much enjoyment as we can out of the new year. May we learn to appreciate the things we often take for granted and never forget we could lose it all in a blink of an eye.

Wishing us all peace and happiness for twenty-fourteen.

 Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday.
- John Wayne