Reflecting on the Past Year, Gearing Up for the Next
The past year brought a wave of unexpected events, leaving me reflecting on how my life has changed. In facing uncertainty, hardships, and losses, it is important to take a step back and appreciate all that has happened. Looking back at the past year, I have found motivation and purpose for the upcoming year. So here I go reflecting on the past year, gearing up for the next.
This year I was blessed to be able to see my oldest daughter in person FOUR Freaking times. It may not seem like a lot, but to me, it was everything. There are some years I don’t even get to see her face-to-face. Thank God for Facetime, or I would be totally lost.
This year bought a lot of movement, new experiences, and a lot of travel.
Travel and New Experiences
I mentioned above that I got to see my oldest four times this year. Two of those times I traveled to see her, and two of those times, she flew here. Traveling to see her brought on many new experiences and new cities that I somehow never had the time to write about, but I will here now. But I will say that when I traveled to see her, I always packed my arnica cream for pain relief because we did a lot of walking. Some days I had 10,000 steps in before 3 pm. Even though I was sore at the end of the day, I wouldn’t change a moment of these visits. So I know you are probably asking where did you go? Keep Reading
Alexandria Virginia
I had never been to Alexandria before, but when your daughter texts and asks how far away Alexandria is from where you live, you look it up and see that it is only a 4-hour drive. You take off and go, even if it is only for one day. So one Monday morning, hubby and I made the drive to hug our baby girl’s neck. We were able to grab dinner with her, walk from the hotel to the waterfront and then drop her off at the airport the next morning.
Alexandria is such a beautiful city, and I can see myself living there. It reminded me a lot of New Bern, one of my favorite cities in North Carolina.
California
For the first time since 9/11, I got on an airplane and flew. It wasn’t that I was scared to fly, but with all the TSA protocols, I just wasn’t sure how things worked. I mentioned that I got to see my daughter twice because she flew here – the catalyst for me flying was that I was flying back with her because she had flown in for my birthday.
The part of California that she lives in is near Los Angeles. I spent two glorious weeks out there with her and her hubby and my grand kitties. I totally fell in love with the mountains of Pasadena. And I even got to dip my toes in the Pacific Ocean. How cool is that?
I love experiencing all the cultures that are blended out there. I had so many new experiences, visiting places, trying new foods, and just taking in the sights. And I walked ALOT. I even fell in love with RAMEN, and I hate Ramen. There are a few things that I found a new love for, including Ramen, Japanese Cheesecake ( if you haven’t had one- you are missing out), and mochi. I even got to eat MOLE ( which is my absolute favorite Mexican food) twice while I was out there.
Roanoke Virginia
Raul, my hubby, doesn’t get to see his family a lot because most of them live in Mexico, so when we found out that one of his brothers would be visiting family in Virginia, we took the day and drove up to see Jesus aka Uncle Jesse to our girls and Sarah.
Connecting with Old Friends
I reconnected with several friends this year. Two I kept up via texting, and I wrote about meeting them here and here. But then there is another WISSA ( her name is Melissa, and my girls couldn’t pronounce her name) is what we call her that I reconnected with after years of just keeping up with each other on Facebook. And I am so blessed that I reached out to her after a dear friend’s husband died ( we had both worked with the friend at school).
Death of My Sister/ Reconnecting with my mom
Not everything from last year was great. May brought the sudden loss of my sister, Sherry, she died 2 weeks after her birthday. She was a bright light in our family and the peacekeeper. But that death brought me closer to my mom. We aren’t as close as I would like us to be, but we are closer than we were.
Photo Credit Heart Warrior Photography
Also, this past year, I couldn’t seem to shake the migraines or bronchitis, so I wasn’t in the best of health, but travel to different climates made up for it.
Family Pictures
Christmas came early this year as my oldest daughter, and her hubby came home for a few days a week before Christmas, and I got an updated family picture. I wish all the family, aka the grand kitties I have 4 now, could have been in them as well as our 4 outside cats, but it was a chore just getting Gigi to sit for the picture. ( As you can see from the above pictures 🙂 )
Gearing up for the New Year
This new year, more trips to visit my girls are planned. I can’t wait to take you on adventures with me. I am currently working on 5 trips out of state ( one out of the country) that I hope will all come true. Years ago, I couldn’t even imagine driving to the next town, but now I am like I want to go and go now.
I also am launching a few new blogs, and I am redoing my coaching and mastermind business so that I can work from anywhere. I learned so much on my trip to California that if I stayed disciplined and got up when I first woke up and did my devotion, and then started to work that my days seemed to work so much better.
I am also in the process of writing a book not going to tell you what it is about yet, but I can’t wait to share. In the podcast realm, Chats from The Blog Cabin is still hanging in there, and I plan on revamping that a little as well.
I can’t wait to share more about this with you, but I will save that for my word of the year post coming soon.
