I’ve been trying to think through what I learned in 2013, and to be honest, I’m not quite sure.  Sad, right?  I want to think through all of the deep and significant ways I’ve grown in the past year, and I’m just not sure.  I’d like to think that I’ll be able to see it in a few years though.  Sometimes it takes time to see shifts in your life.  They can be subtle.

For now, I’ll soak in the excitement of the new year with Little Dorrit in the background (LOVE Masterpiece Classic).  And while I try not to let Charles Dickens give me the heebie jeebies, I’ll share the few things I did learn this year, some more significant than others.  Here they are:

1. Sometimes the best thing to do when I’m sad is to try to keep hope close at hand.  It’s not a very scientific thing to do, but I’m definitely guilty of losing hope too easily.  There’s really no call for that.  My God is faithful, and He hasn’t ever shown anything else to me.  I’ve tried to remember that more frequently this year.
2. It might be worthwhile to keep our house clean.  When I visited Mom and Dad over Christmas, it felt so peaceful to be in a clean house.  I need to remember that when vacuuming seems like one chore too many (which is most of the time).
3. A good dinner really does make a day better.  Especially if it’s the right dinner for the day–season, weather, etc.  That turkey shepherd’s pie the other day was the best kind of comfort food.  I’ve loved learning to cook in the past few years.  I think 2013 was the year of branching out with recipes.  I started to feel comfortable with substitutions in recipes for the first time, and I was more relaxed for it.  Moral of this story?  If you keep cooking, it gets easier and tastier and more exciting.  I’m expecting some good food in 2014.
4. Well, I’m getting older.  And my feet are getting older.  And my back is getting older.  With aging feet and back and other, I’m giving up on heels at work.  With at least 4 hours standing up each day, no good can come of heels at work.  And because of that, I purchased some brand new boots today to replace my nice brown boots that died a month or so ago.  (Boot cause of death: large hole in sole.)  The new boots have a very low heel and are supposedly quite comfy.  Yay, comfy new work shoes for my old feet!  I’m partial to ladylike shoes that have thin soles and such, but sometimes comfort is just more important than dainty footwear.  I still think they’re really pretty.

   

    

   What would I like to learn in 2014?  Well, lots of things.  For starters, I’d like to find a trick to staying awake in front of the TV for more than 20 minutes at night.  Let me know if you have any brilliant suggestions on that front.

   If you want to hear what some other lovely people learned in 2013, check out a friend’s blog and the blogs of many other wonderful folks.  There’s quite a “link up party” going on at her blog.  It’s always nice to see what a year has brought in other people’s lives.