After a "night" of tossing and turning I am up in the middle of what should still be the night. It's the wee hours of the final hours of the year. It's as good a time as any to look back on 2013.
It wasn't the best, but it wasn't the worst either.
It was our first year in a while with a dog. We love our Boaz and are thankful for having him in our family. It was the year Baby Avaree was born. She is a blessing to our family. I am as in love with her as I was with her mother, 22 years ago. It was the first year of having Grandma closer. It is such an honor to spend time with her and a challenge watching dementia rob her, and us, of precious memories. It was heartbreaking on Thanksgiving when she didn't recognize my mama in a picture. It was another year of teaching kids, which for all of the headaches caused by the politico and administrators, is still the best job ever! Now in the middle of year 26, I can't believe it. I can't believe I have had the opportunity to have shared more than 500 kids. Today I pray a mass blessing over all of them. Even the ones who drove me crazy! It was the year of having a grown-man son not in school. Timmy has been trying to find his way, and it is one of the hardest parts of parenting, letting go, watching him make mistakes, praying for him to find his purpose and place in this world without losing his foundation of Jesus. The world is a hard place on young people. Still, I am so thankful and blessed that he continues to serve in our church regularly. It was a year when I got to vacation with girlfriends I have had forever. It has been a blessing to have these women to do life with for the past 35+ years.
It was also the year of Humpty Dumpty, the year I fell apart. Between arthritic knees, frozen shoulder, broken toe, pulled muscles and bifocals - I need all the king's horses and all the king's men. I know it could be worse, but at 5 am, without much sleep because I can't get comfortable because of the pain, I want to complain, just a little. Also, I have a pain in my mouth...
All in all, it wasn't the best or the worst year of my life. But there are some very memorable things, which are for the most part, very positive things. So thank you God for the chance to have lived this life another year. I am looking forward to the the new year, 2014, and the chance to love more people in the name of Jesus.
