I’ve always liked Anne Shirley. She APPRECIATES things, in capital letters. She dwells in the land of imagination. And she gets it wrong so many times that when it comes right, she is overwhelmed with gratitude. She knows how to deal with disappointment:

My life is a perfect graveyard of buried hopes. That’s a sentence I read once and I say it over to comfort myself in these times that try the soul. 

And she knows how to do better:

Anne Shirley: And I promise I’ll never do it again. That’s the one good thing about me. I never do the same wrong thing twice.

I wish I was like her and could guarantee I never did the same wrong thing twice, but its unlikely. I do try, though, and I love the philosophy of every new day being fresh, with no mistakes yet in it.

I usually take time over the New Year’s evening to look over the past year, see where I’ve gone wrong, where I’ve gone right, think about things I might want to do this year. I don’t make resolutions, exactly, just more of a map.

Last night I was too full of joy to do that. My son and his sweetie had driven countless hours to spend Christmas with me, my other son camped out from his place in Halifax, and we had a lovely fun family time. They were polite to my sweetie and all was warm and friendly and yummy and silly.

But this morning, it’s time to get organized. Time to refocus on goals – writing goals, activity goals, creative goals, life goals. Time to bathe the dog. Time to review my past mistakes and try not to do them again.

My ultimate goal? To avoid adding spots in my graveyard of buried hopes.

Wishing all of you a life filled with marvels this year.