New Year's Resolutions

Well, I had good intentions with this blog. But some stuff happened in 2007 and I didn't manage to get a single thought written.

I found the lump in my left breast the week before Christmas 2006, and rang in the new year waiting to see the doctor and agonizing over my discovery. In the six months that followed, I had a mammogram and a series of ultrasounds. Eventually in June 2007 a biopsy was performed, and the good news finally came. Benign tissue. One bullet dodged.

A month later I caught a cold. I got a sore throat and thought I felt a lump when I swallowed. Another three months, a trip to a specialist, a CT scan, and two "nodules" were discovered, one on my epiglottis and one on my thyroid. Surgery was scheduled for the beginning of October, and once again, good news followed. Bengin tissue. Bullet number two, dodged. A biopsy on the thyroid nodule had the same result. Number three.

You can't ask for better gifts than that.

So, I figured after getting luckly three times, it was time to shape up my act. During the throat issues, I quit smoking (again) but have managed to stay clean since the end of August 2007. As so many do, I made a few resolutions for 2008, mostly the usual ones.

Eat better -- more vegetables and more fruit. Mostly I save the good stuff for the kids and eat carbs.
Exercise -- More yoga (even bought a DVD for the kids to do with me); Ray and I bought a treadmill.
Get organized -- an uncluttered environment leads to uncluttered mind.

But here's the thing. Every one of the doctors I saw last year told me point-blank that I was too stressed, and most of my health issues (lumps notwithstanding) were directly related to that stress. So, here are my bigger resolutions:

Laugh every day.
Get to bed earlier.
Kiss my husband as much as possible.
Tell people how I feel.
Focus more on the accomplishments and less on the mess the kids make on the journey.

Breathe in, breathe out. Repeat as often as necessary.

Three passes last year, three misses, three gifts. It is a new year and I hope to make it the best yet.