Happy Bethday!

Yep- today is my birthday!

The bells don't just ring in the new year. they also let me know I'm getting just a wee bit older. This year is no different. However this is an important year for me.

Why?

It's a year to make changes. Big ones. Lifestyle changes both in the home, and in finances. I really feel like God's undercurrent last year will spout forth into awesomeness this year!

It's a year to grow spiritually. God put us here to bring others to Him, and to praise Him. Two things I haven't nearly done enough in 2016. In fact, I might've chased a few people away from Him to become hermits. Or lawyers. Or politicians.
Reading the bible more, talking more to others about God, and especially listening more to others before I open my big yap would be really good to do this year. God gave me a big mouth for a reason, but I haven't been using it the way He wants most of the time. Yikes!

It's a year for contemplation. 'Contemplation' meaning "ACK! Who's that fat old lady in the mirror? When did I stop being twenty-two?!?" Basically contemplating my thighs and overly rotund belly and buttocks. Also contemplating the need to lose a little fluff to help out my cranky ol' knee. Either that or stop looking in mirrors.

It's a year of realization. I now know there will be things I just cannot to physically anymore (so much for those ballerina lessons when I was two), but the trade off is that I don't have to give a flying fart what others think- at least not as much as I used to.

It's a year of being on the cusp. I'm on the cusp of a new biological decade. I'm on the cusp of being an oldie- I hear my favorite teen tunes on the oldies station, and notice parts of those songs being rewritten into 'new' music for my daughter to hear.
I'm on the cusp of being an empty nester, as my son will (hopefully) go to college next year, and my daughter two years after that.
I'm also on the cusp of becoming a regularly self-published author. Three journal/planners out, three more to come, with more coming out this year to help finance the art for my written works. And when my writing comes out (I hope to have at least one book out before Christmas this year), look out world- I'm on my way to drop-in-the-bucket stardom.

As of today, I'm forty-nine. The big 4-9. Almost fifty. Almost half a century, but no huge party- yet. I have to wait another year. Poop.

After a not-so-great last year, this year should be better just by comparison. For instance, my daughter took me out to breakfast with her own cat-sitting money (color me proud!), and afterwards my son comes in from school with something for me hidden in his coat- and unwrapped can of Boy-ar-dees beef ravioli that he slapped into my hand (color me astounded!)

I made sure to eat it for lunch, before he could. You can't leave anything out for more than a few days before he eats it. Still not sure of that's a teen thing or an Asperger thing. Probably both.

Yes folks, this should be a very interesting year!