2012 is rapidly reaching an end… And 2013 is already in full swing in some parts of the world.  I haven’t done a whole lot of New Year’s Resolutioning in the past… partially because resolutioning isn’t a word, and more likely because  sitting down to make a list that requires serious consideration can be downright impossible (a daily to do list is hard enough) what with my diverging and converging thought trains all on the brink of disaster at any given moment.

That said, I am a goal-setter.  I can usually see long-range (independently wealthy) and short-term (buy some eggs so the boys’ coats will continue being soft and shiny).  Mid-range goal setting is sometimes more difficult.  I have a hard time closing doors to myself… and pursuing one goal automatically means another one somewhere else has to go on the back burner.  I’m like a goal packrat… I never want to let an opportunity go, so I just keep collecting them.  And I’ve had some amazing opportunities.

This year has been incredible.  And next year will be even better, I suspect.

Things I’ve been a part of:

Aunt/Sister Trip to Myrtle Beach, SC – We happened to be there during one of the early Republican Presidential Debates and they’d carved the candidates images in the sand.  It was really cold.

A new position, stateside for the first time in two years.  Nothing significant to report.

Starting The Stubby Thumb.

Travel to the National Training Center at Ft Irwin to help conventional troops prepare for deployment and later to Virginia Beach to help a SEAL team with their preparations.  I mourned with them later in the year as they lost their commander in Afghanistan.

Sending messages to heaven to our sweet mother via helium-filled balloon on Easter Sunday.

Running/stumbling through a memorial race at the Big Sur International Marathon for fallen Special Forces comrades:  Joe, Marty, and Aaron.

Celebrating the first year of life with my two sweet boys:  Joe and Marty.

Celebrating the weddings and sealings of my sisters and younger brother and best friend and housemate!  But not all at once.  Because that would make it too easy.

I got a Vitamix!  And used it almost every day for two months (and then left it at home when I went to school because I wasn’t sure I’d need/want it).

Finally diagnosed with ADHD which makes lots of other things make perfect sense.

Discovering that work I did on a project had a significant impact on the world.

Moving no fewer than three times.

Losing my job.

Attending and graduating from a professional canine instructor/trainer school.  Woot!

Seeing what was likely The Monkees final concert together.  In NYC.  Present was one Mr. Michael Nesmith.  Cried like a baby during the tribute to the late Mr. Davy Jones.  Which my friend was kind enough not to acknowledge.

Putting over 23,000 miles on my car.

The other night I was talking to a friend and she mentioned my mother.  She spoke about how my mother could listen better than anyone, and always made whomever was speaking to her feel as though they were the only person on the planet.  I miss talking to her.  So this year, my resolution is to be more like her.  I’ll never be a great listener because hey!  squirrel!, but I can certainly treat everyone around me as though they are the most important and special people I know.  Because they are.  I only surround myself with people worth being surrounded by.  I am going to let that preposition dangle.

I will be a better friend to anyone that needs one or wants one.  That is what I hope to bring to the world in 2013.

Thank you to all my friends who made this year so special!  And to all my hitchhikers for coming along.

2013… HERE WE COME!