Our last Christmas in this house was wonderful! So wonderful, in fact, that I completely forgot to take pictures and just lived in the moment. The food was great (if I do say so myself), the company even better, and we stayed up on Christmas Eve until 2:30 AM watching movies, talking, and laughing. I ruined my Christmas morning Monkey Bread because I’d lost the recipe, but the sweet lady I got it from years ago saved the day for me and re-sent it. Monkey Bread re-do on New Year’s Day!

Speaking of which, let’s talk about the New Year.

I don’t do resolutions. I try to set intentions or choose a word or just screw all that stuff and live. I haven’t decided yet what I’m doing for 2022. In the past, I’ve done burn bowls which are cathartic, but I’ve spent the past six years releasing toxicity and don’t feel the need to do that this year. I suppose intentional living will be my goal for 2022.

I’m about to get a ton of good practice at that as I prepare to downsize and move into about half the space I have now. I just walked around my house this morning looking at all the “stuff” that’s still here even though we have already taken multiple truckloads of donations to Goodwill and sold about ten boxes of books to Half Price Books. Every single thing I take with me needs to either serve a purpose or be something I absolutely love. Not much of the furniture is coming with us, so that’s helpful.

Intentional living. It sounds so simple.

I think part of that is also being intentional with your time and energy. I realized in 2021 that I have spent far too much time and energy trying to maintain relationships that the other parties aren’t interested in. I could offer many examples of this throughout my lifetime, but that would take my time and energy, so… Suffice to say that this past year I released some relationships that had become one-sided, draining, and in one instance, completely abusive. Instead of trying to hold on or explain myself or rationalize someone’s abuse, I just let go. For someone with co-dependent tendencies, it wasn’t as easy as it sounds. So intentional living, for me, is going to look like protecting my boundaries and my energy and my time and only pursuing or maintaining relationships that are reciprocal and loving.

It’s going to look like more walks with my dog and more coffee dates with friends and more dinners with my kids. It’s going to look like continuing nightly cooking with the man I love and talking for hours after dinner. It’s going to look like thanking this house every single day for being so good to me and my kids for 21 years. It’s going to look like crying when I’m sad and laughing when I’m happy. It’s going to look like continuing to sometimes fail and sometimes succeed. It’s going to look like being patient with myself and the people I love.

It’s going to look like the beauty and chaos of an ordinary life that is sometimes extraordinary.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.