Ok, so for those of you who saw my Facebook post, please excuse my redundancy here, but as usual, I put the cart a wee bit ahead of the horse again.
In my normal mode of thinking, I came up with a great idea and then proceeded to share that great idea with all my friends BEFORE I actually carried out my end of the bargain. So, here I am, already having to apologize and make excuses for what will no doubt be one of a myriad of times during the next 365 days. For those of you who know me, please stop shaking your heads and smiling like that. :). For those of you meeting me for the first time, hi! My name is Sandra Parker. And this is my ode to my New Year's Resolutions for 2014.
Now, I'm not a girl that tends to waste a lot of time making a bunch of plans for self improvement on January 1st, only to find myself making excuses for why I can't make any traction on those plans by January 20th. Nope, I'm the type of girl who simply doesn't make those kind of plans at all. It keeps the bar low, if you know what I mean.
However, this year is shaping up a little differently and, for once, I'm actually sort of excited about it.
Just a little historical background for the new folks reading this blog: 2013 was a bit of a challenge for me, to put it mildly. I've been through a lot, with the passing of my grandmother, the near death of my marriage and the relocation of my family to a completely different state. To say the least, it's been a bit taxing. However, during one of my more tranquil moments of reflection (insert sarcasm here) I had a bit of an epiphany. I began looking back over the tumultuous year and began to realize that I was at one of those proverbial crossroads. I could choose to let my past experiences define me or inspire me. The choice was up to me.
I wish I could tell you that the choice was easy, but it was anything but. For awhile, I didn't even realize there was a choice. I think that if it had not been for my children, I probably would have taken the easy way out, blamed Life, God, or just plain old Bad Luck for my circumstances and surrendered to a life of bitterness and regret. But I didn't.
Although it took awhile for me to see it (thanks Pastor Matt and The Point Crew!!), I began to realize that there was another choice, another path, a journey. I think it was the humble words in "Closing Time" by that band that isn't Blink 182 (yes, I know it's Semisonic, but I would be lying if I said I didn't have to look it up!) that finally got me to see it. And it was then, at that stoplight in that perfectly horrible day in that perfectly horrible week in that perfectly horrible month that I decided to accept the journey that lay out before me,, which leads me to my New Year's Resolutions.
Ok, ok. That was a bit if a dramatic lead in for me to tell you that I've been pushed into learning guitar (thanks, Lexi!), learning Spanish ( thanks Mark!) and finally telling one of what I hope to be many stories floating around inside my head and finally giving birth to one of those novels that I've been telling everyone about for so any years now I can't even remember. And although somewhat mundane to most, they perfectly illustrate the words that spoke to my heart that day "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end" I am ready to end my last beginning and start my new one.
Are you ready to join me?