Since I did a review of my year last year, and it's the last day of 2011, I thought I'd look back and muse over the events of the past 365 days. If you had told me last year on my birthday I would be schmoozing with politicians and would-be politicians (and even considering being one myself), I would have fallen out of my chair laughing. But here I am, helping organize a property rights group, going to city and county meetings, going to the school board meetings even when I don't have to, and helping organize a chili supper fundraiser and the county Republican caucus.
Wow. Didn't see that one coming. It makes sense though. I have a lot of time on my hands and a lot of opinions about how things should be going. And if I thought they were headed in the right direction, I would be spending more time reading People and Facebooking and less time trying to save the world, starting with Ozark and Christian County.
I've gotten more active in PTA and I'm using what I've learned there to help with the other organizations with which I've become involved. And sadly, whether it's a non-profit, a political party, a job, church, whatever, it's all politics. It's all about how you say it and how you make people feel. The message, no matter how good or how right, can get lost if the messenger can't convey it without offense and can't convince others to come over to his or her side.
I've started going to church again and I've found a true church "home." I never really understood what people meant by that until I started going to Southside Church of Christ. I'd gone to churches out of expectation, because friends went there, because I wanted to be in an awesome choir, out of convenience, but I've never been anywhere where I thought "this is where I'm meant to be." What an incredible feeling. I'm reading and studying my Bible more. I always prayed a lot but now I think maybe I'm praying even more. And I have so much to be thankful for.
I've taken up cooking and baking for recreation and we don't really eat out very much anymore. I've found that I kind of have a knack for recipe modification and I've even made up some of my own recipes. It's certainly gratifying to have people compliment your cooking and baking. It's also galling to go out to eat and spend a ton of money for what I can make at home for a fraction of the cost. Now I understand why my parents were never much on eating out.
I've been reading about and become disillusioned with the current state of cancer research and treatment. I'm no conspiracy theorist but something tells me the cause may be more widespread and the cure may be simpler than you'd think. Sadly, the research dollars go toward expensive drugs and medical procedures rather than looking at lifestyle changes which do nothing to make money for pharmaceutical and healthcare companies.
I can't believe how fast the years are going by the older I get. I remember my parents telling me time flies...now I believe it. My kids are getting so big, in just a few years Number One Son will be out of the house and Ms. Thang and BabyBoy will be in upper elementary, then junior high and high school and they'll be gone too.
Finally, I think I've nailed down some future plans. I've decided to go back to school and become a nurse practitioner and I hope someday to open a free/sliding scale clinic to serve rural southwest Missouri. It's a huge undertaking...but I feel like it's where I've been heading all along. It's what all my experiences, as a nurse and a cancer patient, having been unemployed and uninsured, have been taking me. And eventually DH and I plan to move out to the country and learn how to live "off the grid" as much as possible.
Every year there is so much change and a lot of it is stuff I'm not expecting. It makes me wonder what to expect in 2012 and what I'll be talking about a year from now. In any case, it's time to get moving and see what the day brings.
Happy New Year!!
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