Year In Review (2010 Edition)

I remember being a kid and thinking that time passed at a ridiculously slow pace. It seemed like it took forever for me to get out of kindergarten, 3rd grade, middle school, etc. Now, it seems, that in the blink of an eye – another year has passed.

For me, 2010 has been a year full of happy memories, incredible firsts and a few sad endings, too.

This year has taught me many things. Thanks to 2010, I learned how to change diapers, plan a fundraiser, build a snowman (sad, right?), use Groupon, and speak a little more Spanish (thanks, Mexico!). But, perhaps the biggest (and most serious) lesson I’ll take away from 2010 is that none of us are guaranteed another day. We have this day, so we should live our lives the way we would like to be remembered tomorrow. So much of our lives are wrapped up in what we will do next week, or what we would like to do/achieve in 5 years…and, that’s ok, we are taught to set goals and work towards them. But, what matters, what really matters, is what we do with the time we have right now.

I guess you could say that this year I realized my own mortality. That sounds incredibly morbid, I know, but it’s the truth. And, maybe it is a bit morbid. Maybe it’s even a bit narcissistic. But, even so, for me – it was an “ah-ha” moment. If my time on earth was over tomorrow, I hope no one would focus on what I didn’t do. Sure, I would want each of you to mourn (significantly, I might add – I’ll be watching), but it’s my hope that you would say, “She laughed, she loved, she gave, she lived.”

My hope for you in 2011 (and much beyond!) is that you resolve to live the fullest life you can every day. Because in the blink of an eye, another year will have passed us by.

“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity. The goal is to live a full, productive life even with all that ambiguity. No matter what happens, the important thing is that the days that you have had, you will have lived.”
-Gilda Radner