I have always loved New Year’s Eve.  Of course, I love lists and I love planning and organizing.  So, the New Year feels like an extensive of this.  Starting something new, a clean slate, getting organized and making goals for the new calendar. Love it!  I’ve always made New Year’s resolutions too, except for last year.  Last year, I picked one word to focus on throughout the year.   I first saw this idea at a blog that I follow, Ali Edwards.  My word for 2008 was balance.  This really worked for me last year.  I got a great job that allows me to maintain the best family/work balance I could imagine.  I managed to balance a lot of other areas of my life that were conflict.  Overall, I think it was a good word for the year. 

This year, I have been thinking about it a lot.  2009 will be marked with three little babes under the age of 4.  There are some new job possibilities on the horizon.  This means, undoubtedly…sleep deprivation, more wrinkles, struggles to lose the baby weight, struggling to strike new balances in our lives and relationships…  and yet, above all else, I want to enjoy it all.  I know it will fly by and soon I’ll be posting about 2010.  
So, my word for this year is presence.   I want to be present in my life this year.  All of it.  I am just going to give in to whatever comes our way, embrace it, love it, and be part of it.  The wonderful sweet smell of a newborn nuzzled under your neck sound asleep, the grubby and sticky fingers of a one year old playing ring-around-the-rosey for the 90th time, the constant “why????” of a three year old…  I was going to use the word serene for awhile.  But, really to arrive at serene I think you have to be present first.  You have to give in, accept, and be open to the beauty of whatever the situation is.  
Life has been so sweet to us.  Dave and I talk all the time about how much we love our lives, and how we are grateful every single day for how our lives have turned out so far.  This year, I’m going to just be open to whatever new things come our way.  I’m going to embrace them, face them head on, and jump right in.  Fully present. Riding the wave.  Can’t wait.
Happy 2009!