2010 was the Year of No Regrets for me. Or at least that’s what I said it would be back in January. As this year comes to a close, I don’t really have regrets. It’s more like unfinished business.
January started off great with all the usual New Year’s resolutions: working out more, eating healthier, etc. February came around and I was looking at houses. My first house. Then came that fateful day in March, March 12 to be exact, when I closed on my house. That evening, as I got back to my house, I discovered some ants in the kitchen. A couple of hours later, there were a few more. Ok, not a few. They were all over the place. After a few visits from my new Terminix BFF, the ant issue was finally resolved.
April came and so did spring. And rain and mud. And tree trimmers that didn’t want to finish the job. My old fence was too short for my dogs so taking them out became a hassle. There’s nothing fun about a dog who hates taking potty breaks while on a leash. Multiply that by three and you’ll get an idea of how tiring daily life became. As if that wasn’t enough, with the warmer weather came a musty smell from my “stove closet” room.
My house is a 1956 mid-century ranch with a nice, low-pitched roof. At some point, the owners built an addition off the kitchen and put a wood burning stove in it. Well this “stove closet” was unknowingly collecting water from a roof leak and had been for some time. Over the summer the drywall, which was covered in mold on the backside, came down as did the rotted sheathing.
At this point, my New Year’s resolutions were far gone and I decided to try to make up for them by creating mid-year resolutions on July 1. I’m proud to say that my Project 365 is still going strong but unfortunately that’s the only one.
There were many good events that took place during the summer months. I traveled to Austin for work and met one of my closest friends “in real life” while there. I also took several day-trips and I got some really nice photos, including this one of Michigan’s South Haven lighthouse.
But at home, Battle of the Leaky Roof continued into the fall and the Stove Closet remained a disaster. The battle finally ended in my favor and I was able to start hanging drywall in November, which has been my favorite month by far. A few weeks ago, tourism geeks from around the country met for a few days of social media bliss at SoMeT. I’ve met most of my closest twitter friends before but this was the first time we were together as a group. The geeky joy unfortunately only lasted a few days before we had to head home.
This brings me to December, the cause for writing this post. It’s the last month of 2010 and I’m determined to finish this year, the Year of No Regrets, on top. I have no idea how to turn this year around, or whether it’s even possible, but I have 31 days to try.
So what’s the plan? I’m going to start the month off with little things like spending extra playtime with my dogs, bonding more with my treadmill and getting more sleep. Showering before lunch (a perk of a home office) would be great too.
As for the rest of it? I’m gonna to play that by ear, which is something very hard for me to do. I’m a strategist. I like planning things out. In advance. I received a call tonight asking if I would go to Portland next week for a company Christmas party and I honestly panicked a little. But assuming things work out with everyone’s schedule, the trip is on.
I just saw this quote on Facebook (thanks, Beth!) and I think it sums up everything perfectly:
“Live life fully while you’re here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You’re going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don’t try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human.” ~Tony Robbins
So with that, I leave you for the night. How are you going to change the rest of your 2010? Remember: NO REGRETS!
Sarah Page
Jeremy Harvey