"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."
- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
I received A Tale of Two Cities this Christmas from Gary. He overheard me saying I'd like to re-read it since it was one of the few books in high school I actually read and liked (sorry to all my English teachers). I truthfully told Chase that we were supposed to read The Hobbit in the 7th grade, but I couldn't get into it no matter how hard I tried. I think I may have used my friends, Carli and Jessica, to give me their Cliff Notes versions to get me through the quizzes. Chase made it a point then to read The Hobbit and is now on to the Twin Towers. Show off.
Words have so much power. They can take you places you've never been. They open your mind. They can lift you up and they can bring you down. I like words that inspire me. I like ones that make me laugh too:
It took only one word this year to change my life. That word was "enough" and it came during a sermon. Our pastor described how if our basic human needs are being met, we have enough. From that day forward, I realized how I truly have enough. I'm overwhelmed with having and being enough.
In 2014, enough was enough. I could have gone on Pinterest to throw Leah a themed birthday party, but instead Gary and I took the day off and took her to the local amusement park for a day of fun. We celebrated her and that was enough. I looked for many opportunities this year to just be enough, do enough and have enough.
Tonight we will ring in 2015 with some friends. These friends were instrumental in helping us through "the worst of times" in 2014. I've been torn if I should make something fun and Pinteresty for the party or just buy a veggie tray at Sam's Club. Who am I kidding? I will most likely make the banana bread truffles recipe on my Pinterest board. I will more than like eat more than enough of them, too. I'm a constant work in progress.
The end of 2014 can be closed with the beautiful words of one of Gary's favorite books, Les Miserables (I hope we have made our English teachers proud):
May 2015 bring you all enough.
