Sunday, January 8, 2012

No Regrets

It is very popular at the beginning of a new year to become reflective, to think about what is working in your life, and more importantly, what is not.  I have been reading lots of blog posts about that very thing.


And I am no different.  I am not a real "deep thinker" {anyone remember that from SNL?}  but I do like to give some thought to what is working and what is not a couple of times a year.


One thing I know for sure, as you get older, or more "mature", you place less and less value on things and more and more on relationships.  Now, don't get me wrong, I still love a nice home, and don't want to drive a wreck, but for the first time in forever I didn't go shopping the day after Christmas and I think that signals a change somewhere down deep.


I have a lot of stuff.  I spend a lot of time taking care of that stuff.  And I am tired of doing that.


I am not giving away all of my stuff tomorrow, I am not going totally off the deep end, BUT, I think, by my lack of after Christmas shopping and by not one visit to TJM*XX during the holiday "decorating" season that a fundamental shift might be starting to take place.  That's a good thing!


The old organizing rules are true, if you haven't used it in a year, you probably won't.  I have stuff I haven't used in YEARS and it is making its way to a new home.  {Although, I was a big girl and got rid of all of my videos and guess what ~ the thrift store doesn't want them!  Guess I kept them a little too long! :-)}


We are going to make a few changes to our home this year.  I am not totally going to stop spending.  We are making some improvements that won't increase the value of our house, but they will increase the value of our home.  We have decided that is important.  We make a lot of memories here.


My husband is quickly approaching retirement {early} and that has caused us to think about all aspects of our lives.  We made the decision in 2007 to move to Texas, where both of our children live, but where our life "wasn't".  We didn't have friends in Texas, and I actually had a job in Kansas that I loved and was a perfect fit for me.  We loved our church, and our small group.  We had a few really good friends.  It's hard to start over when you are kind of OLD!  But, our family comes first, and when those grandchildren started coming, we knew we wanted to be a part of their lives.  I want them to have memories and more memories of grandma and grandpa really being a part of their lives.  So we uprooted ours to be a part of theirs.  


Now I know we are fortunate that both of our children live in the same general area.  But it wouldn't matter.  If they lived across the country from each other, we would live by ONE of them.  { We would pick the one in the best location, read warmest, for us}  For now, it is Texas.  And that's okay.  And that, to get to my point, in the longest way possible, is the reason my post is called No Regrets.


I regret that my kitchen counter cannot stay cleared off.
I regret that I cannot seem to discipline myself to lose weight.
I regret that my treadmill days are hit and miss.  {SEE #2}
I regret the bunch of junk in my garage.


But, in reality, I have no regrets, I have chosen to be close to my family and the rest will take care of itself.  I read a post by Kat at Just a BeachKat  and she blogs about the very same thing.  People are what's important, and making memories with them.


God has been good to me, and I am thankful, for :


The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases,
His mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
               Lamentations 3:22-23


2011 was a great year for our family.  Here's to another year of making memories!  {and maybe keeping my counter clear:-)}





8 comments:

Cathy~Mille Fleur said...

Hi Sue!

I love this post! I think I could just say DITTO to the whole thing...except of course for the moving to be with my kiddos part;)! You put into words perfectly what I have been thinking about the last couple of days as I have been clearing away the mess of the holidays.

I hope you are enjoying 2012 and that it brings you nothing but love and laughter!!!

Cathy

Jen S. said...

Hi Sue!
WOW...what a very heartfelt message. I couldn't agree more. I think it's so wonderful that you are near your children and grandchildren. And as you explained, stuff is just stuff. But family is family. I think that's awesome the choices you've made.

I hope 2012 is an awesome year for you and your wonderful family!

Love Being A Nonny said...

Ditto. I live in the same town with one set of grands and the others are within two hours. Nothing else means more.

Lori said...

I thought you had been here forever! Somewhere I missed that part of you moving here along the way. We keep trying to get my mother-in-law to move here. She won't budge. She has a son in GA as well, she is afraid of hurting someone's feelings if she moves. (which she would hurt the ones in GA) We just want her to be around family is what we have told her. Great post.

Justabeachkat said...

Hi sweet friend. Thanks for linking to my post. It's so true that, while we can love our things, they are just "stuff". It's the people who matter the most.

Sure wish our children and grandchildren lived close enough so that we could live near them all. BUT...all four live in different directions and we're spread out over 4 states. That's the reason we want to downsize so we can travel more.

Big hugs,
Kat

jessica said...

A great post! We are so very lucky you made the decision to live by us and we are thankful for that every day! (and your garage really isn't bad at all, better take that off of your regret list! :)

Rettabug said...

What a beautiful & wonderfully perceptive post, Sue! I can soooo relate, having left the warmth & sunshine & TONS of friends in FL to return to Ohio & be near our children & grandchildren. I wouldn't trade one single grandbaby hug for our prior life & I am SO thankful that we are able to help out with babysitting & chauffeur chores.

I didn't go shopping post Christmas either, but it was because I was on crutches, not 'cus I didn't wanna!!! LOL

Hugs,
Rett

Suzy said...

This is a wonderful post, Sue and really made me stop and think! Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. Take care.