I hope the beginning of 2017 has been great so far for everyone reading this!
This week we are anticipating how 2017 will differ from 2016 for each of us.
Someone posted his on Facebook and I agree, but I also have an addition:
I would add: And there are parts of me that are new.
One big change that I see continuing is the change in family. My grandson was with me most of his life and although we call, text and Skype, he and my son have moved nearly 600 miles away. Even if he were to come back, it would not be what it was. But how can it? The boy is now a teenager!
That isn’t to say that there isn’t family here, including my granddaughters, to keep me hopping, just nowhere near as much.
I foresee myself letting go of more of the past, especially things that are no longer needed or feasible to use. I had started slowing down and as time goes on, and health goes down, I know that there are things that I did before that I no longer have the time, stamina, hands, knees, back or interest for, nor do I have as much family or as many visitors and/or organizations who were [guinea pigs] receivers of my handiwork or foodwork.
Letting go of these things frees up space. I can find what I actually use and have room to do the things that I still want to do and can do.
This year, I am knuckling down, back to the keyboard. I did not complete more than one or two works of writing, (except for this blog, every week, except the couple when my pc crashed). I bounced around ideas, pecked-out a few new lines, worked on several WIPs …and never submitted one thing, I realize! Last year went too quickly for me, this year, I am getting that part of myself back.
And my other sadly neglected blog is going to get something done with it, bless its little heart.Tonette Joyce:Food, Friends, Family will be seeing new ideas. I somehow picked up a number of readers/subscribers this past year and I never even threw them a bone! A series I had ready was destroyed in the first computer crash. I lost pix, recipes…and heart. It will be back.
I will also be finding new ways to make myself as healthy under the circumstances as I can, as I accept that life is changing.
I finally see those around me accepting the changes, which is healthy.
(So did the doctors.)
Denial is not helpful; denial is the opposite of encouragement, as they are discovering.
So, although life has not been perfect and problems are still around, I am staring 2017 with a lighter heart and an upbeat attitude.
I hope you are, too!
Angela Schroeder
Patricia Kiyono
Elaine Cantrell
Jeff Salter
Joselyn
Tonette Joyce
Four Foxes, One Hound 
Several excellent points arise in reading this.
Even though we sometimes have to “let go” of the past — and undoubtedly those exact scenes will not recur — we can still savor reflection on the best of them.
Time slips past us almost as fast as though it were scenery and we were in a car speeding down the highway.
Sometimes one can do so much for so many others that one can forget to find time for oneself.
And… very significantly … the words of our creative endeavors won’t write themselves — they require our fingers on the keyboards.
God bless… hope 17 is a good year for you, your family, and your creative endeavors.
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Thanks for the wishes,Jeff.It’s just that many people needed much attention this past year, and despite the old,”Take care of Number One”, I see that attention to family and friends has paid off in the grand scheme of things and now, I have more time. As you say, time slips…and kids grow too fast.I don’t honestly know whether it is more selfish of me to enjoy the kids and friends and help them grow, maybe more than it would be for me to say I could not help them and try to plunk away at my keyboard. I just know I could not do it.All of the littler ones have gotten quite self-sufficient. And the help I have given bigger people has been real help, I can see from how their lives are going.
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Way to go, Tonette! I’m also trying to cut back on “stuff.” This week I’ve purged several boxes, bags and other containers from my house. School starts next week so the organizing will slow down, but I want to make sure more things go OUT of my house than IN. Looking forward to reading more of your writing outside of this blog. Best wishes on meeting your goals!
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Thank you, Patty.
The letting go part is far more freeing than I would have imagined.I was always a ‘keeper’; I guess I was insecure. When it comes to food, though…lol! My pantry is still overstocked!
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Happy New Year Tonette. No matter how much time passes it has to still be difficult to not have your grandson there with you on a regular basis.
I hope you are able to submit something this year.
I look forward to new posts on your other blog. I loved the sugar cookie recipe.
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I am so glad the recipe worked for you,Angie! That is always gratifying to hear.
Yes, it’s hard for Jonny to be gone, but I do video message/Skype with him.
When we moved to KY, my kids were 8 1/2 and almost 10. My mother had lived near us their whole lives and she said, “This is hard, very hard for me.But I think of my own grandmother, who had to let my mother leave Italy, never to see her again, never to she the grandchildren and knew there would be more she’d never see.There were only occasional letters.But we’ll see each other again, we can call!.” And I can do so much more. I remember this when it is hard.
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