My Word for 2013

CELEBRATE

I've thought and thought about my word for this New Year!  It needed to be a really good one...it needed to be one that made me think of all of the things in my life that I have to be thankful for, but I didn't want to use the word thankful...and then Celebrate came into my head and I knew it was the one.  I checked online for some definitions and synonyms...

Part of Speech:	verb
Definition:	commemorate occasion, achievement
Synonyms:	beat the drum, ceremonialize, commend, exalt, glorify, hallow, honor, jubilate,  laud,  mark with a red letter, memorialize, praise, rejoice, revere, solemnize

Yup, that was exactly what I wanted...that was my word...how could I go wrong with "mark with a red letter"?   2012 was not one of the better years of my life, but it sure wasn't all bad...I learned so, so much from the events of this past year.  I learned about "true" friends...friends that will stick with you even when you're not very pleasant to be around.  Friends that just call or drop a note to say "thinking about you", "are you doing OK?"  Friends that you know it's OK to pick up the phone and just cry if that's what you need to do.  I learned that "true" friends are really the angels in our lives.

I will CELEBRATE friends this year!

I learned that people come into our lives, some stay for a really long time and some stay for just a short time, some leave for a while and come back...they all come for a reason...but where I made my mistake for all of these years was beating myself up trying to figure out what I did to make them not stay for a long time.  I learned to accept the fact that they were in my life...and not dwell...I learned that there are NO coincidences in this life.
I will CELEBRATE always learning!

I learned (well I really knew it all along) that Andy (aka Mr. Quilt Holder/ Mr. Brown Quilts) is the BEST!  He listened to me, he pushed and guided me when I wasn't sure I could go one more step, he made me laugh when I wasn't sure there was a thing to laugh at and then he made me laugh again.

I will CELEBRATE Andy this year!

I learned (well really because I started paying attention) the beauty in the simple things around us every day...I see this camellia bush

every single day when I come in the driveway...I really see it this year.  I see these bougainvillaeas

in our side yard, but they seem so much prettier this year. I see sunsets out my back window everyday

...but it seems so much more magnificent. Or the beautiful full moon off my front porch with that wonderful contrail

...seems brighter!

I will CELEBRATE the simple beauties this year!

I learned that this Howie of mine

is a funny, sweet boy...very full of personality.  He always had been the more "stay to himself" dog...Zack was always the one that needed to know what was going on and where everyone was..well in the past 4 weeks Howie has become very social, wants to know what's going on and where everyone is...and he always knows when there just might be some food around.

I will CELEBRATE Howie this year!

I guess I've probably gone on long enough here, you get the idea...this is going to be a happy year, this is going to be a good year...and it all goes back to that day last month when I had that light bulb moment.  Now there's no doubt in my mind that there will be things that happen this year that will not be all that wonderful, but how I let those events affect me, how I respond, how I accept those events, my attitude and my behavior are all my choice...I learned from that dark time last month that I don't want that to happen again, I don't want to be angry and bitter...I want to CELEBRATE!  And CELEBRATE I will...Happy 2013 to all of you!