Are you like me? Does the end of the year make you reflective? Are you a list maker and a list reader? I am. At year’s end I think of the long and winding road of the year that is ending. I wonder what lies ahead? I wonder what my purpose and goals should be. Is the door in this photo open because I just came into a new room or is it open as I head out on a new adventure? Perhaps it is really both!
My wondrous friend Renee at Positive Boomer posted a column today that spoke to my heart. I plan to have a bit more focus in my blog next year, so it really clarified some things for me. Here is the link to Renee’s blog and post. I am including the post here, too, with her permission. http://positiveboomer.net/2012/12/20/written-by-a-90-year-0ld-2/
The column she quoted (in her post) was in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. With her permission, I am posting it here as well. I think it is a wonderful list of things to think about as one year closes and another begins.
Written by a 90 year old
Happy New Year Everybody. I wish a fantastic 2013 for you ALL.
These beautiful words by Regina Brett are worth sharing with you once again. What an amazing woman!
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This is something we should all read at least once a week!!!!!
”To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I’ve ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:
1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short enjoy it.
4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Stay true to yourself.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye . But don’t worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful. Clutter weighs you down in many ways.
18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It’s never too late to be happy. But it’s all up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ‘In five years, will this matter?’
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive but don’t forget.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
35. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. Accept what you already have, not what you need.
42. The best is yet to come…
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.”
~Source: Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio ~
Very good advice. Thanks for sharing. HAPPY NEW YEAR! Looking forward to reading your posts in 2013.
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
and i, as always, look forward to your posts and photography!
Kate, thank you for sharing… Happy New Year to you http://wp.me/16xW7 Love Sue…. xox
happiest of new years to you too dear sue!
Happy and Blessed New Year, Kate!
aw you too….how different 2013 will be from 2012 for you. a time to catch your breath, look back fondly on an amazing 2012. may the family that has doubled in size in one year be filled with joyful new memory-building times.
Wishing you a happy and peaceful New Year Kate!
to you too, dear heart!!
Wow. The year’s end always just makes me tired!
But this list sure perks me up a bit!
Thanks for it!
Happy New Year, Dear.
K
happy new year to you too….i was quite wiped out at year’s end and have been living in the land of the procrastinators for WEEKS!!
Meeee too!
so twinnish!!
Happy New Year Kate. I love your writings! You are an amazing woman too! All the best in 2013 and I am so happy we have crossed paths. hugs.
Renee
i am happy that we have, too Renee. You continue to inspire me, assure me and warm my heart. love to you today and everyday.
Have a great new year!
you too~ may the new year be especially beautiful for you and your wife.
Wow, amazing–we truly do get wiser as the years accrue, that’s encouraging! Wishing you and your family all of God’s abundant blessings and favor in the New Year–love, sis Caddo
i hope to add to my wisdom this year and not keep making the same mistakes. but then wil i venture off into new ditches? i pray not!! love you sis–
Happy New Year to you and your family, Kate! Thanks for posting that great list.
i love a good list!!! my mind sometimes works in outlines and bullet points….
that’s a great list! thanks for passing it on
so glad you liked it!!
Thanks for the advice…really helped. Happy new year!
i need to keep this list in a prominent place!! i am glad it helped you, my dear!
Thanks Kate, I really needed this today. We just found out that the powers that be are changing our beloved school yet again. I’m trying to accept this. Going with the flow has never been easy for me, but there are worse by far problems in the world. So glad you’re my optimist.
going with the flow often makes me feel as though i am being helplessly dragged out into an open raging sea, so i totally get that. i am sorry that they are changing things again. i often say that i can get used to anything if “THEY” will just tell me how it is going to be, and then leave it that way so that I can HANDLE things. Change is constant. [sometimes that is a bad thing, and sometimes a good thing, right?]—and BTW you are more optimistic than you give yourself credit for…..that is how you teach your precious students…to strive and believe….against all odds….ALL odds.
I have the greatest friend on earthSisters by god but not by birthI owe her a lot for all she has done for meWithout her in my life I am not sure where I’d beWe will be best friends forever until we dieWe have certain jokes that no one would understand but her and ITogether we share our life storyWe look for good in others gloryShe is amazing every single dayI admire and look up to her in every wayShe understands me and I don’t have to explainShe brings her sunshine to the rainSomeone sent by god to do great thingsOne of heaven’s angels with no visible wingsIf you ever meet Amanda then you will seeWhy she is the definition of the greatest friend to me.Amanda, thanks for always being there for meYou have shown me just how best friends should be!
she sounds like a lovely friend for you, rosalyn.