It's the end of the year as we know it

Resolutions… this is the time of year when everyone wants to know what your intentions are for the coming year and every year, we oblige them by ticking off the stand bys… eat healthier, lose weight, spend less money, read the greatest novels of all time… perhaps that’s not a stand by for you, but it is for me.


This year, I’m taking a different approach. Instead we’re going with a theme: Family First. Yes, a cliché… how novel… but I figured something out. If I start to put the needs of my family before everything else, I will have the life I have been trying to get for years. I’m not talking a martyr thing were I give and give and then cry about how I do all the work. It’s the little things. Like making sure it’s quiet during the day so my night shift husband doesn’t make a mistake at work that could cost him his job or even worse… cost someone their lives. It’s making sure I go to the gym so the kids will have a mom who is healthy enough to yell at the refs when they make a bad call. It’s working on my book so that someday I can show my kids how following your passion can lead to a successful career. It’s about making sure not only I get to recharge my batteries with my friends, but that Louis does as well. It’s making sure that God is at the center of our home instead of a great uncle you see a couple times a month.

It’s about making the choice not to buy the toy because the kids need to understand they aren’t entitled to everything they want. It’s guarding our calendar so that everything that’s on the schedule is making us better as a unit.

Putting my family first will also remind me to savor the moments. Sure, they aren’t the Brady bunch or Cleaver family moments where everyone learns a valuable lesson… but when this life is over, it probably won’t be the iPads and remote control cars we hold on to. It will be the memory of playing cards against your mom on the iPads or racing against your dad with his old remote control car. It will be the moments in life that set our time on earth apart. Have more moments in 2011. And don’t forget to be bold.