2013 and One Little Word

Happy New Year! It has been determined- atleast at our house– that 2013 is going to be a good year for us. We dealt with a lot in 2012... Rich and I were only a few months' into dating, his dad passed away unexpectedly, financial struggles, deciding to move in together, moving four houses into one, the girls adjusting to the new norm, picking up a part time job on top of my full time one, selling my condo, Rich's back issues. It felt like it was non-stop chaos. 

Rich and I used the time around the holidays to stay close to home, to enjoy quiet time with one another  and our close family, not getting too caught up in the go-go-go of the season. Our new year's eve reflected this mentality too. We attended church with my parents and came home to grill porterhouse steaks for dinner. We were in our jammies and on the sofa, scanning the TV for something to watch, dosing off and on as we snuggled together. We managed to make it to midnight, both on the east coast and in the midwest (complete with some Cupcake bubbly Moscato- highly recommend this one!). 

In reading other blogs that I like to follow, I made the decision to join in One Little Word for 2013. Most people who participate in it seem to take their time, contemplating what word should be their focus for the next 365 days. Of course, I didn't approach it like that at all!

I have been feeling confined by so much: my jobs, money, self-inflicted expectations, others' expectations, a pending big 4-0 birthday, my biological clock, my need to control every aspect of my life... and all I want is to be free of it all. After a morning drive-time meltdown on the phone with my sister today, and finally making the decision to participate in OLW, I determined that my OLW is release. 

Here is how Merriam-Webster defines release: 

•  to set free from restraint, confinement, or servitude
•  to let go, dismiss
• to relieve from something that confines, burdens, or oppresses 
• to give up in favor of another, to relinquish

• to give permission for publication, performance, exhibition, or sale of
• to make available to the public 
• to move from one's normal position (as in football or basketball) in order to assume another position or   
  to perform a second assignment

I love what Ali Edwards (the founder of the OLW movement) said on her blog today: 

" And what do you do with this one little word?

You live with it. You invite it into you life. You let it speak to you. You might even follow where it leads. There are so many possibilities." 

I intend to do just that. 

release. 

release.

release.

2013 is going to be a good year.