Let The Games Begin

So it's a new year.  I haven't even blogged about Christmas (which was tremendous) and here it is a new stinking year.  

I don't mean it like that.  Not a stinking year.  This poor girl has only been around for a few measly hours and I've already branded her with a bad rep.  (I've decided that the year 2012 is a girl, in case your wondering.  I don't know why I feel like everything has to be assigned a gender.  I just do.  And this year was born a bouncing baby girl.) 

Anyway, the new year is here and I'm tickled.  Two-thousand and eleven was a fine year, really, he was, (yep, he was a boy last year) and I was lucky enough to do some pretty incredible things.  Like this.  And that.    But 2011 also brought hardships and tragedy to so many people around me, people I love and who I watched struggle, really and truly struggle, and for that, well, I'm glad to see him take a hike.

And don't you just love a new year?  I know it's just the turn of a calendar page but there really is a freshness and newness that comes round every January 1st.  And I sort of love that.  We've been deep cleaning and re-organizing and making goals and checking things off our lists and all of it, every little bit of it, feels incredibly good.  Now that my kids are older we can do a lot of this goal-setting together and I love watching them make a plan.  Set a goal.  Figure out a way to get it done.  I think we could all use a blank slate in one way or another and this pretty little lady, Ms. 2012, is just the girl to set us off right.  

For the past few years, I've participated in the one-word challenge of finding a word to focus on for the year.  I love reading what others have chosen and as I've thought about it for the last several days, one word has surfaced again and again and although it's nothing fancy, it's just the thing for me.  

My goal for this year (or one of them at least) is to follow this simple counsel and change the way I do things.  

In 2012, I plan to pause. 

Take note of what's going on around me.  

Enjoy the moment that has presented itself.  

Put down the mop.  

Pick up the book and pull a child onto my lap.  

Stop working so hard at preparing for an event that I'm too exhausted to enjoy.  

Go to the park more.

Let the dishes stay in the sink. 

Forget that multi-tasking was ever invented and just live, in whatever moment I'm having.  

I know it's not profound.  I know it won't move mountains or alter the universe.  But I'm hoping that it will remind me to focus on the truly important stuff.  My kids are growing up.  I have a middle-schooler!  And I might be missing it because I'm too wrapped up in the stuff of our life.  The details and decisions and to-do's.  And while it's necessary and important in it's own way, it's nothing compared to reading a book with Sienna.  Or teaching Hannah how to scramble eggs.  Or playing soccer in the backyard with Austin.  Or having a conversation with Spence at the table.  Those moments are fleeting and I know that if I don't slow down, and pause for just a minute, I'll miss them.   

So welcome, 2012.  I can feel all the goodness you have in store for my family and I'm already grateful.  I can't wait to see what you bring and I'm anxious to pause and take it all in.  

2011 word.

2010 word.