The Year of Possiblity

I almost didn’t write this blog post.

I intended to write it on January 1st…but I was seriously dragging and since I am trying to be better about listening to my body and self-care, I didn’t write it that day.

Then I thought I would write it while we were in Mammoth this past week. There was plenty of time while the rest of the family skied and I was working from the cozy lodge with a view of the slopes. But I managed to leave the power cord for my laptop at home, so had to use the battery life I had for my paying job and ran out of battery before I got around to blogging.

And as I have thought about writing this post today – a post that for all intents is a look back/look forward sort of New Year post – I almost convinced myself that it was too late to write the post. So I almost didn’t write this blog post.

But I decided “new” is a pretty flexible term. So while my Facebook feed today was full of articles and friends talking about already broken resolutions – I decided I should go ahead and write this post. It’s not a resolution post (if you’re a regular reader, you know I already talked about how I don’t make resolutions), but it is a post about us taking stock as a family, looking at what we’ve learned, how far we’ve come, and where we think we’re headed in 2018.

Over dinner on New Year’s Eve, we all answered two questions – one looking back and one looking forward.

Question 1 – What was one thing you learned about yourself this year?

• Dena: “I should always trust my instincts – my first instinct about something tends to be correct.”
• Brian: “I have a hard time celebrating success”
• Owen: “I am getting better at handling crowds”
• Kasey: “I’m dyslexic and I am a really good horse rider.”

Question 2 – What is one goal you have for 2018?

• Dena: “To be more intentional (and even sometimes selfish!) about my self-care and to be open to change.”
• Brian: “To fly fish on two rivers I have never fished before.”
• Owen: “To not have panic attacks as much.”
• Kasey: “To finish tutoring and be a stronger reader.”

I hope that having conversations like this one shows our kids that even as adults we can always be learning and growing. There isn’t anything particularly remarkable about any of our answers.  What is remarkable is that fact that we had that conversation sitting in a fairly crowded restaurant – there was a time when we had stopped eating out altogether because the potential for my son to have a panic attack was too high. Also remarkable is that fact that in a time of life where most preteen kids will do everything possible to not label themselves as “other”, my kids have both grown comfortable with the words which help to describe their personal challenges – autism, mental illness, learning disorder. These are realities in our life and the fact that my kids are brave enough to “own” those things amazes and impresses me daily.

As a follow up to the NYE conversation, my husband and I spent sometime this weekend talking about what 2018 could possibly look like for our family. Sadly, we do not have a crystal ball. Much of our conversation was in the realm of possibility, but one thing is certain – we are entering 2018 stronger than we entered 2017. We are all stronger individually and that makes us stronger as a family. There’s no definite way to tell what this year will bring (about that crystal ball!), but I am feeling super confident about that list of goals we each have this year. It’s a year of possibility.

Here’s to a great year!