I think it was my first grade teacher, Mr. Boyson, who first introduced me to the joyful realization of the double meaning of “March Fourth (Forth!)” Since that day, I have always giggled inside when someone says the date, and picture them with a sword in hand, raised for battle!
May today be your day to go forward and conquer all that you have in front of you!
Happy March Fourth!!
I’ve started crocheting a Minecraft Creeper blanket for J5. This sucker is gonna be HUGE! I can’t wait to get to the assembly portion! It’s only 768 granny squares. Stay tuned.
What does real friendship look like?
This week’s recurring topic seems to be “What makes a person a ‘friend’?”. Just because someone has had the “friend” designation in the past, it does not mean they automatically keep the title for life. “A friend from High School” may not just identify when we became friends, but it could also indicate the lifespan of the friendship.
In my book, a friend:
The old saying, “The only way to have a friend is to be one”, rings more and more true with me. Friendship is a two-way street. I am under no obligation to be a friend to “needy” people. (Please note: “Needy people” are quite different than people who need a friend.) Needy people don’t recognize that genuine friends (those who listen, support, and love) might actually want a friend in return.
While I don’t want to be too “transaction-al” in friendship, I am closing up the 24/7 friendship pit-stop for those who show up, take my time and emotional energy, and then disappear again.
Guess I’d better spend some time considering whether I treat anyone in my life that way too…that would really suck!
Toodles!
1/4/15 10:30am – Edited: I woke this morning with the thought that this post wasn’t quite right. It’s not about will-power as the mechanism, but fear. I refuse now to make knee-jerk changes based on fear.
I feel like 2014 was a pretty eventful year. I’m sure I feel that way near the end of each year simply due to the holidays throwing us into a flurry of interrupted routines making things feel more chaotic than normal.
However, the largest change this year was a doozy. After 10 years, I left my job to launch myself in a new direction more suited to me. It was not easy, as relationship and loyalty are high on my personal values list. However, I came to the realization that my relationship with myself, and my desire to be loyal to who I am, were in conflict with my staying, it simply became the right thing to do.
And so far, I absolutely LOVE my new role!!! 
I haven’t had the opportunity to get to know too many of my coworkers yet, but everyone has been friendly and responsive. And the work itself? It’s just so me. I get into work and there are specific things that need my attention, and I can complete them and mark them done. Checklists make me so very happy, and accounting is full of that kind of work!
We hosted Christmas this year, and I cooked my first turkey and ham! We had 14 people in our not-so-big-for-hosting home, but it was a success!
As I look back at this year, I am grateful. I’ve learned a lot. I’m seeing things in a new light. I’m really looking forward to making more choices and changes, and seeing where it will all take me!
The winds of change do blow. Yesterday I closed a chapter in my life. Left a company I was with for 10 years. At the beginning of next month I will start a new job, with a new company. I have been somewhat quiet over the past several weeks because it has taken a great deal of my energy to make that kind of huge, deliberate change. One of the things I have said repeatedly is “why anyone would churn up life like this on purpose is beyond me”. But yet here I am, doing exactly that.
There are enough obstacles in life to what I dream of doing, I do not need to be one of those obstacles. Honoring my gut, honoring my heart and soul, and making the decisions and changes that I simply know need to be made. That’s how it happened.
Watching other people in my life do the brave things, and make the changes that need to be made, has made it all the more possible for me to have the courage to do the same. In all my time of making sure I have been following rules and doing what I’m supposed to be doing, it is finally becoming truth to me that the only one who can really judge what I’m supposed to be doing is me. There is a huge weight lifted (and a lot of martyrdom purged) by doing what I know in my gut I need to do. I’m grateful for that gut-knowledge, and hope to get better at listening to it.
