How do you Measure a Year?

Five hundrend twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year
In daylight, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee,
In inches, in miles,in laughter, in strife,

In Five hundrend twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure a year in the life
How about Love

How do you measure the life of a woman or a man
In truth that she learned or in times that he cried
In the bridges he burned or the way that she died
It's time now to sing out though the story never ends
Lets celebrate, remember a year in the life of friends.

**RENT

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Every year at this time we reflect to all the things we did and didn't do in the year gone by. We think of all the people we missed and the ones we actually got to spend time with. And the utmost important thoughts of.... resolutions for the year to come. This mornings MSN homepage had a cute pic followed by "New Year's Resolutions You Can Keep." Things like: *Kiss more and make each one last longer than 15 seconds, *Learn a new skill like a new dance, *Spend your money on a personal trainer instead of plastic surgery, *Talk on the cell phone less in public (ok, I get the hint!!), and *Take a different way of transportation to change up the people you meet each day. All of these are great ideas and better reditions of the old. We are always making resolutions that we just don't do... by the time the snow has melted we have forgotten about all of it and come next December we will look back as we are now and think "Damn, I never did lose 10 pounds or stay in touch with my friends." I want my New Year to be better than the last. I am not saying that this year was bad at any rate - in fact it brought me many things and many opportunities that I did not think was going to be possible. I was able to remodel my house, update many parts of my life, pay to go on a cruise this coming spring, get into full-swing of my new job AND get a promotion within a year, and gain more life-lasting relationships. It has been a great year but like everything I do - I do not want to move forward by moving backwards, I want this year to be better. I want to overcome the obsticles that I have been fighting for a few years now and move on, I want to have more parties and get togethers so I can see my friends more (I love a good party), I want to excel in my job. I think these will all be doable with a little effort (always comes down to the damn e-f-f-o-r-t).

Christmas went well. I want to say as well as expected but my expectations were all over the board. I had images of my mom being a total flirt in front of my dad-she was good about that. I imagined Dad continuing the drinking binge he seemed to be on at the beginning of the week but I don't think he consumed much beyond the Diet Coke and a full pack of cigs! It really was a typical family day and weekend. We played games, ate good food (nice to have Larry home!), and got little sleep. My aunt expressed how strange it is to have the kids providing the meals and snacks instead of the grown-ups but we are all grown-ups now. Even Chrissy is now 20! Now we are all just a little slow bringing in the "new blood". Admittingly it would be nice to have little ones around. I had such a good time taking gifts to my friends kids that I realized just what we are missing. Time will tell - things are changing every day and life changes with the motions.

Hmmmm.... (wink)

Your Kissing Purity Score: 37% Pure

You're not one to kiss and tell... But word is, you kiss pretty well.

Kissing Purity Test

Growing Up

I think I just have to get used to this time of year being my big reminder that growing up isn't all Barbie and the Dream House or Knots Landing ... ok, maybe occasionally a little Knot's Landing.... The last few weeks have been big reminders that life changes on a dime and not always for the better, and sometimes it all just takes some getting used to.

As we approched Thanksgiving, we were saddened to lose a close family friend. Someone that, in my whole life I remember as a big smile and always good for a laugh and a hug. He was a good friend to my dad and probably the only one of few he had left. Harder than the news that he was gone was the sad message from my dad that Saturday morning. My heart just broke when I heard the tears through the phone. But what was better was the support that my mom showed - of course not directly to my dad - but through me for him and on his behalf at this sad time. It is sad to see him go but anyone who knew him - knows that he is with us all. I tell you what gets me everytime this happens, are the kids that are my age and younger that are now without a parent for the rest of their life. When this happens, I want to put my parents in a time capsule so they will never leave me. I think of the extreme pain they must be in and how unfair it is to lose someone that important so soon.

http://www.themillerpress.com/main.asp?SectionID=16&SubSectionID=34&ArticleID=152&TM=610.726

And than a week later I get the news that my other friend has lost her father to a terrible brain disease. This is something more expected but yet brings a 29 year old to the point of being the adult burying her parent. She had watched him fade away so gradually for the last 4 years to this day she had both dreaded and awaited. I stopped by the wake on Friday night - I should have stayed but I really just couldn't. I hadn't been to Kevin's funeral - I had only mourned on my own and now I was at Rebecca's dad's funeral wake and I was just a ball of mush - I wanted to sit down and cry but I had to be strong because she was obviously trying to do that for her mom and I would have just ruined it all. So I kept my cool and got on my way.

Next was the cookie bake weekend - quality time with the family. But since we are talking sucky growing up moments - I will note that my mom and her boyfriend's baby talk is so flippin annoying!! This is the moment you wonder where you went wrong... hehe. I know that this is a regression caused by the fact that she was never this happy with my dad or was never treated this good with my dad but really, is the baby talk necessary - or the baby talk on the phone ONLY when you are locked in the car with her going 65 mph and no way out!! I had a long "therapy" session with a coworker last night about this. She is divorced and usually very good about coming to mom's defense when I get upset but she seemed to hear me out last night. Either way - I know that sometimes I feel like I could be speaking harshly because I am alone and she is not but I really don't think that is the case. I haven't heard baby talk with a couple (any couple) since HS - or maybe current friends that are early college but still - when you are 54 and 50 - don't you think you have been around enough to know that crap is annoying to the innocent bystanders??

Then there is the newest reminder - my 10 year reunion is coming up next summer! OH MY GOD! Where has the time gone and CRAP! I am in a pinch for time. I have a reunion, a cruise, and 3 weddings next year!

Gotta go to the gym and therapy now....

Loves and kisses to all!