Think Pink

A year in Review

What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?

I had to think a long time about this one.  There isn’t much and that is kind of sad, but then it was kind of a sad year.  I did join and co-op, which, if you know me, is really a big deal.  I really started branching out in my reading.  I DID NOT have any surgery or receive any severe injuries.

Did you keep your new years' resolutions and will you make more for next year?

Some I did.  Some I didn’t.  I always have aspirations for the new year.

Did anyone close to you give birth? 

MANY people close to me gave birth.  I want a baby.

Did anyone close to you die?

yes

What countries did you visit?

Nashville

(seriously at the Shoney’s where we ate one of the cook’s names was COOTER. If that isn’t a sign of a foreign country I just don’t know what is)

What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?

Joy and simplicity

What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

June 7, 2007

at

6:12 am

What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Surviving it

What was your biggest failure?

Not remembering Who is in control

Did you suffer illness or injury?

NO! PRAISE JESUS!

What was the best thing you bought?

SEA WORLD SEASON PASSES, BABY!!!!!!!

Where did most of your money go?

Just making ends meet

What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Getting away; escaping; any little break from reality

What song will always remind you of 2007?

Held

Compared to this time last year, are you:
a.  happier or sadder?   

sadder

b. thinner or fatter?

fatter

c.  richer or poorer?   

richer

What do you wish you'd done more of? 

laughing and sleeping

What do you wish you'd done less of?

housework

How did you spend Christmas?

At my mom’s

Did you fall in love in 2007?

always

What was your favourite TV program?

Lost; The Office; Scrubs

What was the best book you read? 

The Book Thief

What was your greatest musical discovery of 2007?

Rosie Thomas; Ingrid Michealson; Colin Hay

What did you want and get?

Healing for myself 

What did you want and not get? 

Healing for my friends

What was your favourite film of this year? 

Dan in Real Life

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

34, got spoiled rotten by the hunky Hubby and kids 


What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?   

Still having Natalie in it

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?

Is it clean? Do I still fit into it?

What kept you sane?

Craig 

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

None of them –they are all total friggin’ morons

What political issue stirred you the most?

Publically political – the war and immigration

Internally political – Capital punishment

Who do you miss? 

Dave

Madonna

Natalie

Mylette

Noah

Kathy

Hilary

Nik

My Grandpa Craig

Granny

Dad

Who was the best new person you met?

So many—I am so blessed by friendship.  My true blessing this year was not in meeting new people, but in deepening relationships with some special people that live right here in my home town.  I missed in-person friendships more than I knew.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007: 

“God has not been trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality.  He knew it already.  It was I who didn’t.”

Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

All I can do is keep breathing

Old Year Ablutions

Leanne over at The Good Neighbors issued a challenge.  Along with listing all the things we hope to make happen in the new year, make a list of things we truly want to be rid of in 2008.  Many times, the difference between change and status quo is not recognizing the things that impede us from making forward progress.  I want to rid myself of these things.  To wash them away, as it were.  Thus, my old year ablutions.

• Negativity - I spend so much time focusing on the hard, the bad, the wrong and the just-plain-stupid that I allow it to distract me from all that is wonderful and blessed about my life.
• Speak without thinking - a habit that often leads to negativity.  Just because it pops into my head doesn't mean I MUST say it--even if it's a valid thought. 
• Take relationships for granted - anything worth having is worth investing time and effort in.  I have let too many friendships go by the wayside because they weren't "convenient" for me.  I want the people I love to know I love them, without a doubt.
• Wasting Time - the fact is that there are a million things I want to try, learn and do.  Housework isn't one of them, but it doesn't change the fact that there are responsibilities that I must face.  I need to get them over with quickly and well so that I can focus on the fun stuff.
• Gain any more weight- 'nuff said
• Let an opportunity to help or to reach out pass by due to busyness.  I fully believe that not every opportunity is for me to take hold of, but I also know that I focus too much on what really doesn't matter and let opportunities that DO matter and that ARE mine to take hold of go by.
• Get irritated over what I cannot change - I can't change many things.  What a waste of time and energy when I stew and steam and fuss and rant about it.  In fact the number of things I can control I can list on three fingers: myself actions, my emotions, my response. Nothing. Else. Matters.
• Spend frivolously.
• Hoard things I do not need, love or even want.
• Make excuses for being who I am. 

Christmas Conversations

Spoken by Bailey as Uncle Matt beats her on the Wii (yes, we got a Wii):
"You smell like a skunk who uses super smelly bubble bath!!"

Spoken by Olivia in valiant defense of her Uncle:
"NU-UH! you smell like a KING IN PERFUME"

(You should know that Uncle Matt buys his love with Ice Cream Breakfast, a ceremony that he and the girls partake in whenever they get together)

The Hardest Year

I said goodbye to another friend today.  I suppose the argument could be made that saying goodbye to a seventy-year-old friend is more palatable than saying goodbye to a thirty-year-old friend. Except it isn't.  Friendship isn't aware of age or how much life was enjoyed, it only knows that someone is missing.  It would take long and long, and would only diminish with words the special friend that Dave was to me.

To finish the year saying goodbye to my friend is apropos of what it seems has filled my year.  In fact December has seemed a microcosm of all that has happened.  I'll give you a picture:

Two wonderful birthdays and an anniversary, a free vacation in a condo and Christmas juxtaposed with Natalie's birthday, my father's birthday and the anniversary of his death, the anniversary of my friend Mylette's death, the diagnosis and very fast demise of Dave.

See what I mean?  There is good, so much good, and the good is absolutely undeniable, and yet the bad keeps sneaking and crushing my spirit.  I have spent my time this year struggling to balance Truth with the reality of this world.  I have cried, begged and thrown things and simply lain still, too broken to fight anymore.  I am drawing to the close of what I look back on as my hardest year.

I don't throw around terms like that lightly.  I have had some years of note before.  There was the cancer year.  The year I had two children - not at the same time. That year was also, incidentally, the year my father died.  Years past have seen major career changes, financial hardship and yet this year did something down in the core of me that given the choice, I would have lived the entirety of my life, happily, having not experienced.

Ironically, my theme at the outset of this year was "Ready Now" based on a song with lyrics that say "I'm ready now...do what you will." I thought I was ready.  Little did I know what shape readiness takes, what it requires.  What sort of surrender is involved. But the year progressed and God has stretched me, refined me, deepened me in ways that have left permanent scars on my heart.

I thank the hunky hubby for bringing to my attention a quote by CS Lewis that seems to have answered some of my eternal questioning:

“God has not been trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality.  He knew it already.  It was I who didn’t.”

And perhaps this is so.  I certainly have learned many things of myself, both admirable and ugly, that I would not have imagined in any other year.  December has been a month of deep introspection, of sudden and copious tears, of humor, of heartache and of healing.  As it draws to a close I find myself quietly hopeful about the new year that unfolds in front of.  One for which God has already revealed a brand new theme.

The end of the service today ended with the speculation  of what would Dave say to us, were he given the opportunity to say one thing more.  I am blessed to have the time to say what I may never get the chance to again now.

To my friends: You have brought more to my life then your leaving, whether late or soon, could ever take away.  You have enriched me, lent the color, the depth, the laughter and unexpected gifts that complement my daily life in ways that I never realize are missing, until they are not there.  Thank you for being the color and the music.

To my children: You are my everyday miracle. My magnum opus.  Thank you for every grey hair, every stretch mark, every kiss, every cuddle, every belly laugh, every spill, every piece of endless dirty laundry. You are mine for all my days, long or short, the fulfillment of my hours, weeks months and years.  You are so much more than I ever imagined or hoped for.  Never will I ever regret one second of life spent loving you.  Don't ever doubt that I would die a thousand times to give you life and do it with a smile on my face.

To my husband: You are the other half of me.  Everything I am, I couldn't be without you by my side.  You are my waking thought and my dying breath.  You are my heart.  I love you. 

To Dave and Natalie: I'll see you later, my friends.