When I started out the year 2012 I wanted to read 26 books in 2012 (#26in2012). This is a pace of one book every two weeks. At the pace that I read, I knew this was achievable even if I did focus much of the time on my writing. I finished the year reading 60 books, with the last being finished in the afternoon of December 31st – and it may have been the raunchiest one I read to date. Hard to believe considering I did read the Fifty Shades of Grey series.

Another focus that I had for this year when it started was to deal with the grief that was filling my soul after losing my mom. I contacted the Coping Centre located in Blair and participated in a mixed loss group session in the spring time. It helped me talk about my grief and to do some healthy things in order to cope with the loss, and other losses that came up. It is true that at the start of this year I didn’t have a lot of compassion for people that complained about the trivial things. I despised anyone that complained about their parents being too involved in their lives, as I had felt what it was like when that person was torn out of it. Maybe I’m still not 100% with the complainers, but at least I’m healthy in my thoughts of them and not wanting to pull them to the schoolyard for a drag down fight.

I really wanted 2012 to focus more on me than it had in a very long time and I think I really achieved my goal. I took a Romance Writing course that started in January. I loved the course and did pretty well in it, even if my final project wasn’t what I really wanted to hand in. I’m still proud for having completed the course with a passing grade and for finding resources for how to go about submitting my book when it is completed. I still want to write romance novels and have several ideas in my head about what the stories will be. Someday when I’m not so hectic I’ll focus more time. I don’t feel like a failure for not completing it this year even though I felt that it was my way out. I feel like I achieved something because I started and worked on it and found my muse again.

One of the things I am most proud of for 2012 is finally taking the bull by the horns and begin researching my family tree. I had a vague idea who people were and there were names that floated around, but I didn’t have any clue with regards to my grandmothers side of the family. As we have a family reunion with that side every Labour Day weekend, I decided to find out some information before we all got together. I bit the bullet and signed up for a 3 month membership to Ancestry and now can be found spending at least 3 nights a week digging into my past. It started small but I now have 942 people in my family tree on all sides. I’ve traced us back to when we first came to North America and Canada and I’ve found that for the most part we are farmers and labourers. We have endured hardships and traveled to new areas to make names for ourselves. I’m proud of my past, even if I know there is even more to find. Even with 942 names on the tree, I know these are just bones and it’s going to take more time and research to fill in the flesh. I even attended a genealogy fair in Kitchener in November and it was excellent to learn more about how to find my Scottish and Irish roots. I’m so passionate about what I’m looking for and what I’ve found and incredibly defensive when someone tries to tell me what I’ve found isn’t right. The truth is in black and white – it’s in the census, birth records and marriage certificates. I’ve found ships manifests and military attestation papers. There is so much to see and even more to be found and I’m glad to see that I’m still located in an area where much of my family came to lay down roots. I feel an even stronger connection to the past, something that was missing with every grandparent and parent that I lost.

This year my husband and I decided to make a lifestyle change and I’m proud to say we are both 20 lbs lighter than we were when we started this year. We’ve got a ways to go, or at least I do. But I’m confident if we keep working at it we will both be healthier and stronger than we were before.

I got my own office this year and focused on things I wanted to do. I learned how to make felt flowers and a diaper cake. I got craftier and have started to believe that I can do whatever I set my mind to.

I’m incredibly proud of how 2012 turned out. Moving into 2013 I have no idea where I’m headed but I know I’m going to work to stay on this upward swing of momentum to reach for my dreams.