Long Hollow

So I'm sitting here sipping champagne, listening to fireworks in the distance, thinking about 2016. There are only a few hours left of it, and while it brought heartache, it also brought many moments of joy. 

I lost my mom this year, but I was able to spend a lot of time with her… more precious memories to add to the others tucked away in my heart. 

There were some nerve-wracking, challenging moments in my business, but overall I exceeded the goals I set for myself while doing what I enjoy… volunteering, helping people, learning, meeting new people, and spending time with friends and family. 

While cleaning out my mom's house, sorting and tossing, I also made a big dent in sorting through and tossing my own stuff. I plan to continue minimizing in 2017. 

My eldest and his wife went on one adventure after another around the globe, always returning safe and sound back home. In comparison, my own out-of-town adventures seem pretty boring, but they were just what I needed: weekend trips with girlfriends, celebrating retirements and birthdays, a relaxing week with my mother-in-law, and a few one day trips with friends to festivals and Magnolia Market in Waco. 

2017 will include more traveling for me, though -a Keller Williams conference in Las Vegas in February and a week in Italy in October with high school friends.

But every year has its good and its bad, and I expect 2017 will be the same. I lost many loved ones besides my mom this year, but I prefer to focus on the love we shared and be grateful for the memories … to live life in such a way that I will be missed if this year turns out to be my last.

I refuse to live in fear or filled with worry, but in hope, faith, and gratitude. I'll keep my eyes open for the sweet surprises in each day, filling the pages in my journal with them each evening, lest I forget. 

Let's go boldly into 2017 with eyes open for the beauty and love that surrounds us, and add to what is already there with kindness and patience. Let's hang tight to joy and ensure fear doesn't win. Are you with me?

Happy New Year and God bless you!

"A Happy New Year! There is a glow of cheer and optimism in the very words "New Year." The old year, with its anxieties and worries, is over. It too brought happy days and sunshine, and in memory we must cherish the bright places."

~May Louise Crane, "Poet-O-Grams," American Poetry Magazine, January 1934