Last thoughts for 2006

I’m hitting the sparkling wine, people, so these are quite literally probably the very last coherent thoughts I’m going to have for the year.

They shall try to be worthy of their post.

This has been a wild year. A surreal one, really. I can’t really claim I’m all that sorry to see 2006 fading into the rearview mirror at this point.

It actually…kinda sucked. Not the worst year on record, but far from the best, either.

But I’m done whining about all the stuff that didn’t go as well as it could or should have. The cool thing about that past is that it’s past - it doesn’t have to define your future. You can have a rotten year or a bad experience, learn from it and then let it go.

This year, I went without much of a plan. Oh heck. I had no plan at all. My plan went something like this: Get to the weekend, do some laundry, and knit something.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

See, I had a ten year plan. However, I came to the end of it two years ago and, uh, well. Never really got around to, you know, deciding…what to do next.

Under that first plan, I got my Bachelor’s degree. I had four children. Cleared just over $90,000 in credit card and car loan debt. Tightened our credit report until we qualify for the tip-top loans. Invested like there was nothing but tomorrow in our retirement accounts. Learned how to work the stock market. Learned to cook like a Depression-era housewife. Figured out how to budget, and how to work within that budget. Worked like a crazy person, worked long hours and endured a long commute, toward having just exactly what I alternate between taking for granted and feeling guilty for having: a full-time telecommute position at full salary.

Not bad, huh? Not bad, in ten short years. Yay, me.

Something I want to do, as soon as I recover from the effects of my share of a bottle of sparkling wine, is put together a plan for the next ten years.

I suspect it will be…quite different. I’m not the same person I was, twelve years ago. I don’t have the same needs. I don’t have the same fears, or dreams.

I know it won’t be particularly deep or meaningful. I’m not that kind of person. My view of things is pathetically simple: I feel that my influence is like that of a pebble tossed into a pond. The largest rings are those closest to me; my greatest power is over myself, and then my family, and then my friends…my community…my county…my state…my country…my world.

But at the same time, what influence I may have is wasted if I’m paying for pizza delivery when I’ve got perfectly good food languishing in my pantry, or spending my time playing online bingo not because it makes me feel just ever-so-jolly but because I’m **sigh** bored.

However, that’s for tomorrow.

Tonight! Let’s be happy together, yes? Here’s to you, to each and every one of you! We made it through, ladies and gentlemen, we made it through! Richer or poorer, better or worse, we made it through to the end of this year!

To my crazy family, thank you for molding me into the person I am. I like me very much, and have you to thank for it. So I do. I love you all – I know you know, but still. I do. Outloud. In bright, vibrant purple.

To my friends, I love you all so very much. That other people, not bound by custom or blood-relation to give me the time of day, insist upon liking and even loving me, putting up with my weirdness, inviting me (and my Denizens) to your homes and even trusting me with your kids for playdates and weekends, astounds, delights and humbles me. Thank you.

And to those who read this blog for a good laugh, thanks. I love meeting you all through your comments and your blogs. Thanks for hanging out in my Den, and inviting me into yours. Take care of you and yours, and may we all have a very happy 2007!

Slàinte!