I could never quite wrap my head around New Year’s Day as the day for making resolutions regarding any type of new beginnings and now I think that I understand why.  While as a society, we celebrate together on the beginning of the new calendar year, I believe that our individual New Year begins on our birthday, our personal day of the year and the anniversary of our birth, our beginning.  With that information in mind, I feel ready to begin anew with a few new birthday New Year’s resolutions of my own. 

For the first time ever, I took my birthday off from work and can’t imagine why I never have done so in the past to celebrate my personal holiday.  The day was absolutely outstanding and I owe it all to Kirk, my husband.  He didn’t miss a detail.  My present was selected after many months of researching, searching and deciding that this was the one that was perfect for me.  We spent the day doing everything that I wanted and I ended up with the most super birthday cake ever, one that I will never forget (yes, that is it, the overgrown cheeseburger cake  photo attached to this blog).  As I headed for bed at the end of this most fantastic day, I found that I really wanted to make a resolution to appreciate and honor this most important person in my life in ways that I had not considered before.  For all that he is and all that he does, he deserves my best and that is what he will get and this is my first new resolution. 

Then I reflected upon the situation at my current job and made resolution number two.  I will do everything to make the workplace as special as possible.  I resolved that I will do everything that I can to not spend so much as one minute of my time judging the behavior of my co-workers and how they choose to treat others. I am not going to try to figure out how some are motivated to behave in a way that is disrespectful or insulting to others.  I will keep reminding myself that there is no way that I can understand the choices that others make because I have never walked a mile in their shoes so I can’t know how they think or believe. 

My third, and final, resolution for the coming year is to do absolutely everything possible that I can do to bring about a successful outcome to the several projects to which I have already committed myself.  It is time to put my good time and energy into them because I believe in them.  While some of them are only days old, some are projects that I have been thinking about or working on for years.  Now is the time to get working on them with all of the heart and the passion that I have for each of them. 

I am not promised tomorrow.  Each day is a special gift.  Why would I think that only special days like birthdays and holidays are the only ones that I can really enjoy and celebrate?  I want to keep the happiness and excitement and motivation that I felt on my birthday alive every day of the year.  I know that if I do, I will create for myself the most awesome life that anyone could ever begin to imagine.  And when I think about it, I find that it really is a very simple thing to do if I just keep focused on all of the positives, keep a smile on my face, treat others the way that I would like to be treated and be grateful for all that I have.  Now that is a life worth living, if you ask me!

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With the anniversary of September 11^th so fresh in my mind, I couldn’t help but reflect upon all of those people who lost their lives that day and all of those who lost loved ones that day.  It also reminded me about how we so often take for granted the lives that we have and how it is so easy not to appreciate each and every day for what it brings to us.  It also reminded me about how we treat one another and how we get so wrapped up in everything else in our lives except for a true appreciation for those people who are in our lives.  What if our world were to end today!  Would we be happy for the way we treated those around us?  Were the last words that we said to someone else something that we were glad that we shared?  Would we be happy with how we lived our own last day?

I don’t know about anyone else but to me, 9/11 does not stand for politics or religion or anger and hatred toward others.  Those things are such a sad commentary to include in remembering all of those people who were innocent victims and those who gave their lives trying to help others.  For me, I want this anniversary to represent the best of what we all do to help each other in times of trouble.  I want it to represent how we come together in a crisis and pray and love and give whatever we have and whatever we are in order to ease the pains of someone else.  And I also want it to serve as a reminder that we are not promised anything more than this moment.

I know that if this were my last day, I would have no regrets.  I have gotten a few things done for tomorrow but that has not been my focus.  I appreciate this most gorgeous day and wonder at all of the beautiful things that God has created all around us.  I am enjoying the time that I get to spend with my husband and while I am sitting here sharing with you, I am also watching a football game which is one of my favorite relaxations on weekends.  I appreciate what I have, what I have accomplished and know that the dreams that I wish to fulfill have nothing to do with building a fortune or amassing a pile of stuff.  I feel so fortunate for my life and for all of the people that are in it.

So if I am given tomorrow, I will be ready to pursue those dreams, do the very best job that I can at work, love my husband just a little bit more and appreciate those around me from whom I can continue to learn so much and with whom I can share so much.  And as I remember 9/11 and each and every other special day throughout the year, I do hope that I will appreciate all of the opportunities that come my way. But more importantly, I hope that I am always grateful for every single person that I am fortunate enough to meet and know.  And for all of you who are already in my life, thank you for everything that we share.  You make my life so much better for my having you in my life.

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Earlier this week, I watched some of the coverage of the devastation from the earthquakes and tsunamis in the regions of Indonesia and those sights were totally surreal.  I watched local coverage of those people who lost family and friends in those parts of the world and couldn’t begin to imagine what they were feeling.  And then my mind wandered to thoughts of how everything can be changed forever in a single moment and how fragile life really is.

Many turned away from the news stories and buried themselves in other programming but I don’t really think that it is because they didn’t care or weren’t concerned because it didn’t happen in their areas.  I think that it was because they didn’t want to confront the reality of the devastation, the loss of so many lives, the extent of injuries and the photos of all of the people who did survive who were left without homes and food and water and had no idea of how they could possibly keep going.  And then I couldn’t help but wonder, what if something like that had happened to me today?

I know how truly fortunate I am.  I know that the most important thing in my life has always been and will always be other people.  I have the best husband in the world and I absolutely treasure the person that he is and the love and caring that he gives to me every single day.  I have only a few family members left and they live on the other side of the country but I know that they are always there for us and that is something that money can’t buy.  I have wonderful friends and co-workers and we all look out for one another.  All of that means more to me than I could ever express.  And that is when I realized that if something like a devastating earthquake happened in my area today, as long as my husband and our families and friends all made it through, we would be just fine.

The reason I know that is that I have seen the power of people united before.  I have seen people gather and help one another at times of crisis.  No, I am not naïve enough to believe that everyone is that way.  I have seen the other side of humanity at times like the Los Angeles riots in the early 90′s.  But, even at that time when I was living alone, I did have three other friends who had joined me in my home and we all hung in there together until the immediate dangers had past and it was once again safe to leave the area.  And when we left, one of those friends took me to his family’s home where I stayed until it was safe to return to my own place.

It was in that moment when I realized that should some major event occur in my area, I really had nothing to fear.  As has happened in the past, I would once again be surrounded by people who would all help each other, those who quite often put the safety of others ahead of their own, those who have compassion and caring to soothe those who are frightened and those who would contribute everything they have to the good of everyone around them.  After all, I truly believe that this is the nature of most human beings and in times of crisis, everyone helps everyone else in whatever manner they can.

I would love your comments.