Happy 2016! Time to rip open that new calendar! Break out the gym membership card, give up all that chocolate, stop staying up so late reading; you know– it’s resolution time! Ha! Not here. I talk the talk, alright, and what do we gain from it? (I will resolve to doing ONE of these things.)
I know, I know. “Shush. Too. Perky. Not. Enough. Coffee.”
No resolutions from this woman. But a WORD for the year, that I can do. This word came, as it does, in the same organic fashion I have grown to expect. It pops up and says “Hi, I’m your word: You get to deal with it now!” It won’t leave, and it is noisier than the other words. So, I always go with it. Introducing—
CHANGE
It is certainly the right word for the year. Big changes afoot. Timmy JUST retired on Monday after 37 years! (He’s far too young to have worked that long, I know 🙂 ) Yet, as he is lacking a sufficient stash to be a gentleman of leisure–and he didn’t marry money– AND he keeps bringing home the wrong lottery ticket–he is going to be starting a new career on Monday.
This is huge as far as CHANGE goes; now I have more vacation days than he does! But that’s probably OK; we can’t afford to have 6 weeks off if the paychecks are so much smaller. The REALLY big thing about this is that he will come home, EVERY NIGHT. He will not work 16 hour days, he will not have to go to work at midnight and get drafted to stay until 4pm the next day. He will SLEEP at night. And get up in the mornings! Talk about CHANGE!
“But,” you say. “That’s all well and good, and congratulations and all. But it’s YOUR blog, your word!” True, that.
It IS time for change. 25 years in retail/management is long enough for anyone! So, what DO I want to do when I grow up? I am a creative problem solver…Now I have a problem to solve, too. But, some smaller changes can also be worked on, as well.
- Can I become a finisher of quilts?
- Can I change the desire to buy things; be happy with what I have?
- Can I finally edit ALL the photos?
- Can I do the dishes before I go to bed?
- Can I change our eating habits?
- Can I cook at home more?
It will be a big adjustment to our little corner of the world, this less money/ more time situation, but so much better, as long as we both approach this year as a time of change, of different, smaller expectations. I recall the truth of the saying, “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.”
These are previous years words–click on any to read that years essay.
CONNECT— ENOUGH— CHOOSE— INSIGHT— WEATHER— MOTION—BALANCE— DELIBERATE
Have a GREAT year! (Do YOU have a word? How does it work for you?)
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Out with the old, in with the new; motivate, change, organize, fresh starts. Uh huh. Sure. It’s Saturday, and it’s January, and I have to go to work. (But, I do not need to unbury the car first.)
A friendship can weather most things and thrive in thin soil; but it needs a little mulch of letters and phone calls and small, silly presents every so often – just to save it from drying out completely.
Weather is a great metaphor for life – sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad, and there’s nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella. Terri Guillemets 
If you send up a weather vane or put your thumb up in the air every time you want to do something different, to find out what people are going to think about it, you’re going to limit yourself. That’s a very strange way to live. Jessye Norman 
And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow. G.K. Chesterton 
Nature is so powerful, so strong. Capturing its essence is not easy – your work becomes a dance with light and the weather. It takes you to a place within yourself. Annie Leibovitz 
More Notes From the Refrigerator Door 