Do you do a review of your year?
It is the last day of my holidays before going back to work tomorrow and I'm in the last vestiges of the precious Christmas and New Year break. A time which for me very much signifies the warmth and cosiness of our family get togethers. For years I've been keeping a notebook where I scribble some of my reflections of the past year. It isn't systematic but I attempt to distill some of the following:
- highlights from the year
- anything particularly proud of
- things looking forward to in the coming year
- any aspirations
Although I write this in my notebook, I usually ask each member of our family for their thoughts. 2015 has been dominated for us by an unexpected health issue affecting one of our children. This is still on-going. In the throes of managing the impact of illness, the process of writing and recording some of the details and incidents which have made up 2015 made me realise that in spite of significant setbacks there is lots to treasure in the year as a whole. Although there have been some very big and significant events, it is the accumulation of all the small and some very ordinary incidents which began to make a huge difference in my appreciation of the past year. I'm grateful for this.
Shoes in the hallway
A colleague at work had said to me some time ago that one of the things she missed when her three children left home was the shoes in the hallway. I now know what she means. The stack of shoes when everyone is home spills over and almost blocks the route through the house. I like seeing the shoes in the hallway. They're home.
Marvel jigsaw
Our daughter has been given a 1000 piece jigsaw over the past few years as a Christmas gift. I like seeing her quietly doing these by the Christmas tree. Here's her 2015 Marvel jigsaw.
Suilven and family walks
As a family we usually do walks together when we can get ourselves organised. Latterly, these have been restricted to holiday periods rather than a part of our daily lives. We're lucky. Sheffield is referred to as the greenest city in Britain. One of our favourite walks which we can do straight from our front door takes us to Forge Dam.
Our more extended hill walks unanimously figure as highlights for all of us.
Suilven captures for me 2015. Every year we go to Lochinver in the Highlands of Scotland for our summer break. It is 26 years since my husband and I first climbed this mountain.
26 years ago I had no idea that we would have three (wonderful) children nor of how our lives might turn out. This year, in August with our three children we were able to make it to the top (a gloriously sunny day and thankfully we had midge nets!).
Here we are. In a very wonderful place.
2016. Ready for the next stages.
Something to look forward to
I came across Kenan Malik's great post about his best books of 2015.
Lucia Berlin's 'A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories' drew my attention. The description refers to how Berlin crafts miracles from the everyday. I've just bought a copy, read the first story, 'Angel's Laundromat' and feel thrilled to have discovered this wonderful book now. There are enthusiastic comments here from others about the collection. I'm really looking forward to reading these stories.
