How in the world did it get to be 2020 already?  I remember as a kid, thinking 2020 was a million years away.  That we would all be riding in Jetson cars, have robots and drive through showers.

I try to keep up with technology the best I can.  We do have a robot vacuum we call Rosie, named after the robot on the Jetsons. She has a mind of her own and doesn’t listen to a thing I say.  She quits whenever she feels like it. She hides under a bed or in a closet that takes days to discover.  We have Alexa, Sire and google playing music all day and showing us photos that magically appear on the screen. I know there is so much more that these devices can do.  Our kids tell us that all the time.

It is nice living with things that are supposed to make our lives easier, less stressful and more organized.  I do love the reminders, timers, instant weather forecast and a music channel that only plays Andrea Bocelli.

I have been thinking a lot of 2020.  Things that I have accomplished in the last decade or 6.   I keep thinking I need to reinvent myself, make myself better, stronger, more confident.  I have been making resolutions for over 40 years now. From college days until last year, I made a solemn promise to myself to be a better person, to get better, to go down a check list each day of what needs to be done.  To have a word.

Having a word for the year has always helped me in the past.  I have had words like courage, calm, grateful, strong.  The past several years have warranted a word to keep me focused on how I wanted to be in the coming year, but I am thinking this year is different.  I can’t think of a word that hits home with me.

So instead of a word, a resolution, a new beginning, my thought is “I am enough”.

With crazy hair, a bottom tooth that is a little askew, a stuttering speech, almost deaf, aging face, a  body that is still very strong but with a few aches and pains.

I don’t want to stress over everything I eat, say or do.  I want to continue to be my authentic self.  Be the person my parents raised me to be. To love unconditionally.  To love nature, art, family and friends.

Sure, I can improved, we all can.  I can stop eating the homemade peanut brittle that my aunt Shelby made for us, but I won’t.  My aunt takes pride in the peanut brittle that she sends us each year and I will take pride in eating it….all.  My husband and I eat good food, we watch what we eat and try and keep it clean and wholesome, but almost every Sunday since I have known him, we get a blizzard from Dairy Queen after checking the cattle. It is our thing, our connection.  I know ice cream isn’t the best thing for us, but hey, a little mini Caramel brownie blizzard isn’t the end of the world.

I think there is so much pressure of people to be perfect, to rise above everyone else. Right now there are so many commercials and ads for weight loss and exercise programs, and yes, I need both of them. I just don’t want to be intimated by the skinny 20 year old with a wash board stomach and the guy who only eats lettuce for his health.  I am enough.

I know when I started doing pottery again, I compared myself to others.  It was only after I let go of what other people wanted me to do that I found my own style. I love what I do, I am enough.

My red headed granny and her sisters.

I was raised by very strong, red headed women that taught me that I was enough. To stand on my own two feet, to be kind, but not weak.  The Scottish in me keeps my head held high, flaws and all.

So here’s to the New Year 2020!  Robots and all.

May you find joy in unexpected places, self-contentment and authenticity.  As the old saying goes…”Be yourself, everyone else is taken.”

Thanks for being here, I am truly grateful (a good word!)

Until next time,

Be kind to yourself,

Much love,

Cindy

Romans 12:2