Happy New Year!

I hope that 2014 will be a Happy New Year for all my friends and family.  2013 was a hard year with many downturns and much sadness.  I attended far too many funerals and shed way too many tears.  I lost my godmother, my cousin, my best friend and a wonderful colleague.

Both my best friend and my cousin were younger than me and my colleague passed away just 4 short months after she retired having taught in the same school for 41 years.  Her death saw another colleague, who was also a close friend, take early retirement to enjoy her grandchildren.

This year it may be me taking early retirement, on medical grounds.  My health has not improved and I am still finding the simplest of things difficult.  By the time I have showered, got dried and dressed I am exhausted added to that the fact that if I lived alone I would really struggle to manage.  I can't open milk cartons or most bottles and jars, some days I can't even fasten buttons.  Add to that the cramps I get in my back and down my legs when I am on my feet for too long and my horizons are shrinking as I type.  Trying to explain to someone that you need to sit down because you have cramp in your bum is not easy, but it is extremely painful :-)

So what does 2014 hold?  Hopefully a reduction in my daily pain, possibly retirement from work completely or from teaching with a view to finding alternative employment.  Lots of family time and an increase in the amount of exercise I do daily, with a view to being a little bit lighter by the end of the year.  I bought myself a wonderful planner which I hope will keep me organised but also will give me things to aim for such as 1 scrapbook page a week (or more) or keep track of my works in progress between knitting, crochet and cross stitch.  I am a terrible procrastinator and put things off for the longest time then have to rush to get them done or completed so I am hoping to change that even a little this year. 

For now it is enough to know that I am at the start of a new year and some new possibilities, it is up to me to choose positivity over negativity and hope over despair.  Here's to me and a positively wonderful 2014.