May bring no tear to any eye
When this New Year in time shall end
Let it be said I've played the friend,
Have lived and loved and labored here,
And made of it a happy year.
~Edgar Guest
I am reviewing my 2011 resolutions. I have been home quietly enjoying being by myself, after being out every night for the past two weeks or more. I chuckled earlier this evening after mass when one of the young ‘uns asked, “Did you just say you hoped to be in bed by 10:00?” I had but obviously that deadline has come and gone.
With my journal entry from last year in front of me, I am reflecting on how I did with my dreams and goals. The first one had to do with writing. I wanted to start a new blog and try to write daily. Today ends the year with postings created 358 of the 365 days. Now, some of those were not for lack of trying. Blogspot and Shaw did not always cooperate with me. I had a goal to journal more but I think the blogging replaced that. I did not feel a need. So for those of you who were reading my blog, you could say that you were reading my journal too. I had hoped to start a novel. I kicked around a couple of ideas but I am still waiting for something to become clearer in this regard. This goes back on my list for 2012. I have been editing a friend’s homilies and have a good chunk of them selected for publication. I will have to get more serious about this in the coming year. I have been at it for almost a year and so I would like to complete this project by summer.
I had hoped to visit more with family and friends and this did happen but not as much as I would have hoped. As Guest suggests above, I would like to play the friend more in this life.
I had hoped to exercise more as well. I did manage to complete the Tai Chi class I was taking and continue on with Pilates. I still do Pilates and have been thinking I should review the Tai Chi dvd and practice some. I tried to walk once a week and succeeded for a good while but even though we have had a record mild winter, I did not keep it up. Curves did not seem to be my thing but the new gym I am at may be the ticket.
Prayer was also on my agenda. I start every day with the mass readings and try to do an Examen at the end of the day, though I do fall asleep on occasion. I had hoped to return to Taize but instead was blessed to be selected to attend the Jesuit Congress in Ontario this summer and that turned out to be a holy experience. My Chemin Neuf group is a wonderful part of my life. I enjoy the people and our sharing. It keeps me on a good path and for that I am grateful. I was able to make it out to St. Benedict’s for a retreat. Sadly, though, I find myself avoiding mass at my church during the week. I am so disturbed by what is going on there that I find it hard not to be filled with anger. My spiritual home that has been so important to me is being slowly destroyed. I hope something shifts soon.
I had hoped for some romance this year but the year is ending without a single date. I did meet a few interesting men but nothing came of it. I tried to push my comfort zone by attending events where I might meet someone new so this satisfies the attempt to be more open and available.
I see that I hoped to volunteer to do something fun. Hmmm….I am not sure if I did this. Celeste, if you are reading this, I realize this was your wish for me. I have volunteered for many things this year but were they really fun?? I wonder if volunteering to organize 50 smaller birthday parties ranks as fun. I know that these were a great joy to me. I am not sure if volunteering as a spiritual director can be classified as fun (I see Celeste shaking her head) but I must say, I am thoroughly enjoying being back in that position again. Ok, how about Taiko drumming? Would that count? One of the activities I discovered this year was making photobooks in a new way. I enjoy that a lot and am also just starting to look at making my photos into cards.
I had hoped to travel and had on my list a number of places, which I managed to make. Kelowna, Vancouver area, St. Catharines, and Mississauga were all achieved as well as Minneapolis. I also had Taize, Singapore, and California on my list. Singapore will be the big travel event of 2012. I also managed to hit Calgary this year to visit my brother and take an Alaskan cruise to as a 50th birthday gift to myself.
Under health, I hoped to lose weight and did for a while this summer but am now at an all time high. I am more conscious of what I eat, although I do not always make healthy choices. This was a baby step this year. I did find a new way to exercise with the gym program and so I look forward to seeing what 2012 brings in this regard.
For work, I had hoped to begin to prepare for retirement and to begin to look at options for other employment. Instead, I had a pretty good work year in places. I still have in my mind it would do no harm to meet with HR and begin to prepare for retirement and maybe explore other options within government that might be less stressful and allow me to do other activities I love to do.
The last area I looked at was to find a place to live where I could be warm, safe, and happy. I wanted to entertain more and to live more simply. I did not really make much headway in this regard, though, I am toying with the idea of buying more seriously than ever before. My eye is on Craiglist often for the rentals. I looked at a few places this year and am perhaps a little sad that I did not jump on one of them. My little space heater is on as I type this. My landlord still drives me crazy for the most part. I have not had many people visit. I would say this area gets the lowest of all marks but not because I did not try.
So those were my resolutions from last year. In retrospect though, the year was awesome. I can look back and say that I have lived and loved and laboured well to create a happy year. I was able to travel extensively, see many of the people who have positively influenced my life and life choices, tried many new adventures, created successful moments at work, made a difference in people’s lives all over the world (especially in DRC with some fundraising), and at the end of the year, can look back proudly over the blessings that God has showered upon me for 2011. It has been a stellar jubilee year for me and I am so incredibly grateful for all of it.
May you take a moment to review your year and find the blessings that were yours.
Peace,
Suzanne
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