New Years Resolutions?????????

Well here we are again.  The first day of a new year.  Sorry for the generic title.   Remember back when we had the Y2K panic.
That was a trip.  My boss at the time had us hoarding gas in huge tanks.  What a joke that was.  I must admit the hype was entertaining but I can only imagine the money that was lost over that deal.  Now here it is 2011 and the world is supposed to end in 2 more years.  What a load of crap.  This is what I did on my new years eve.  Stayed home with the ones I love and enjoyed a couple movies and a nap with my yellow puppy!

I generally don't make resolutions but his year I might just try something different.
I am resolved to not rip the arms off of people who piss me off and beat them to death with their own appendages.  I will take chances.  I will overcome adversity and I will plant my tree of hope upon this sad, dismal place an hope that it brings shade to those overburdened with the heat of life.  I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.  Time to do something about it.

About 29 years ago my brother and I received  bronze medallions for Christmas from my birth mother.  It was all she could give us that year.  It was during this time that she was in the clutches of alcoholism and just beginning her first steps into sobriety.  On this medallion, virtually rubbed away, were the words,
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference".
I was mortified that this was going to be my Christmas present.  I was only 8 yrs old and did not understand the fullness of things.  We were teetering precariously on the ledge of life.  No one would have thought we could balance for so long a time without falling off.  We were children and children overcome.  What beautiful resilient creatures we were back then.  Little did I understand the words on the medallion let alone appreciate the immensity of their power.  The medallion has long been lost to the turmoils of life.  Sucked up in the never ending vacuum of time and space.  Vanished but never forgotten.  Those words have been seared into my soul since the first day I read them.  Never to be forgotten.  It is only now 29 long years later that I might just truly understand their meaning.  It does not just apply to those who are recovering it applies to all of us. 
My heart goes out to a friend and maybe one of these days, a sister in law, who lost her father yesterday.  A sudden heart attack claimed his life.  And if this wasn't bad enough she just lost her mother 5 months ago. 
My heart hurts for her and I can not fathom her pain nor do I have words for comfort.  I am at a loss.  It is with this that I look deep into my soul and read the story of my life and wonder if I shall like the ending.

So to all of you I ask, " Can you make a difference?  Can you live a difference?  Is this the year that you find your medallion and hold it up to the sun for all to read?  I think I know what my resolution is!