My Learning Year

So from this aged about 2

Well today I turn 54 - God that sounds old when I say it out loud. As I have blogged before I see birthdays as a time to reflect on what the last year has given you and to celebrate all you have achieved and to maybe reexamine what you consider to be your failures (if you have any) and not see them as failures but life lessons and give yourself permission to readjust your goals for the future.

So the past year has given me (and this is not the complete list by any means):

• the courage to start a blog and put my thoughts out there for all to see (read)

• the acknowledgement of how much my 'sisters' mean to me

• the chance to tell my 'sisters' how much they mean to me and that I love them, scary telling non-family members that you love them in words

• the chance via my blog to show my vulnerable side - extra scary for the control freak that is me

• the ability to say NO at work, instead of always putting everyone else's needs first

• the chance to travel to Adelaide with my DH and enjoy our time together

• the realisation of just how much I love that man

• the joy of having both my grand-daughters and all of my children in the same State again

• the cyberfriendship and support (both ways) of my new cyber blog friends

• the chance to drive with the wind in my hair with the turbo purring - radio loud, smile on my face

• the blossoming of my grand-daughter now that she has reached highschool

• watching the learning journey of my youngest grand-daughter, what a wonderful age 1-2 years is

• the courage to say I want to work less and the ability to not cram 10 days into 8 - part of the saying no

• the ability to let some of the control go at work and trust others to do what they need to (although sometimes that has not always worked)

Some of the things of regret:

• the passing of my mother in law and seeing the sadness it has bought my hubby

• the time hubby and I have had to spend apart with his work travel commitments

• the fact that there are still so many people struggling in this world and that I can not do much about it

• the loss of lives in the Victorian bushfires (both human and animal) even though I lost no-one personally the tragedy touched my heart in ways I didn't think possible

Some of the things I need to re-assess

• my lack of fitness - I say I will address it and always find excuses why not to

• my bad eating habits - I have been eating really badly since my hubby was been away so much

• my bad self-image - well not sure it I will ever be able to look in a mirror and be happy with what I see

So lets see what the next year brings - bring it on, I am stronger, wiser and will accept the challenge with open arms.

To this aged about 16

To the present day