Happy New Year!

Welcome, 2007. I'm so glad you're here. 2006 was a difficult ride, however much I grew and learned.. I, for one, am not sad to see it go. I'm looking ahead to the next 365 days with a smile and taking what I can from the last year and making better decisions, making myself happier overall, and appreciating all I've been blessed with a lot more than I have.

Since I spent a good portion of the last day of the year with the fair Pixie, it seems fitting that I would completely rip off her idea for this post. I hope she forgives..

Reflections of 2006

* I put a lot more into relationships than many people.. and therefore hold onto them sometimes too long and too tightly.

* I'm a horrible manager of my own social time and cause a lot of people to wait around for me.

* I really like myself a lot better when I don't let things get to me so much and I work to avoid drama. I listen better, interrupt less, and have more patience than I ever did. These are improvements I'm excited about!

* I really appreciate my family more than I ever have in the past. They've surprised me with their love and support in the smallest of ways that have become huge for me in my understanding of them. We have become closer and I truly cherish that.

* I may actually have decided I would one day like to have children - probably adopted, but that is a change of heart I never expected. I think one day I could be a good mother and watching my child/ren grow up into good people gives me a sense of future pride.

* The friends I have around me are so amazing - even the ones I've never met, but with whom I still have a bond. My lifetime friends, Kari and Megan who are family to me, my college theatre friends, Keith, Kristen, and Stephanie who make me incredibly proud knowing they've come so far in their drive and talents, the friends I've made over the last 11 years I've lived in Seattle, Kam, Pixie, Fatima, Abby, Wazhma, Loren, and Scott, who all keep me grounded and laughing and enjoying every minute of my time with them, my new blogger friends, Jules, Wendy, and Emma, who are real enough to become permanent friends and visitors as well as the surprise find of the year, Treena, whose reacquaintance I've fully enjoyed to the point we've decided we've been the same person this whole time, just a different brain, and all the ones I haven't yet met but who've forged this tie of global love-and-affection-checking-in that I wouldn't give up for the world and whose stories keep me wildly entertained thru all their ups and downs: Pomgirl, Kara, T, Lisa, Léonie, Mandy, Indi, The Duck, Rigmor, and Welshy. What would I do without you all?

* I can't ask 'why me?' for the things that go horribly wrong.. as I would then have to ask the same when so many good things happen - and I don't for fear God may have picked me by mistake sometimes.. and I don't want to bring that to His attention.

Resolutions for 2007

* Remember that I can only control what I can control - including my feelings for and about others.. and that I need to give an equal amount of what's being provided back to me. Sometimes more is great.. but I need to keep it all in a positive perspective and avoid being clingy and insecure.

* I will do everything in my power to be on time - no more of this 15 more minutes type situation that turns into 30 minutes later.. I'm not saying this will happen over night (note to Pixie).. but it will improve. I dedicate that to everyone who's ever waited for me. And there's a lot of you, I know.

* I will continue to do my best to spin things positively, not let things bother me so much, to be more patient and kind, listen better, interrupt less, appreciate more. Those are always things I'm working on. Anything just to be a better person that people enjoy being around.. even if I'll never curb my level of chatty. I'm a talker, sue me.

* Love love love.. always love.

Here's to a fantastic and love-filled 2007 to you all. Hope you rang it in safely, soundly, and with the wildest of ambitions, dreams, and optimism for what is yet to come.