What's in your 2012 wallet?

Zao ching 2012, ola 2013... but first, lets look back at some of the songs that rocked our moments along the way.

2012 Pop  Danthology Mash up

I thought the above mash up of pop tunes were pretty cool and ended on a note (literally) which I wanted to begin my last blog of 2012 with (the lyrics are) "Someone I used to know" this ties in with the blogs title question, "What's in your 2012 wallet?" 

The thought occurred to me late yesterday afternoon, while I was preparing a beef stew in our crockpot, pondering the possibilities of the approaching new year. Epiphanies. Who knows where or when they will strike? We all have these moments. Anyway, as I am standing in the kitchen, letting my mind wander back over the past 12 months, while chopping garlic with a sharp knife... probably not the best of combos... The question materialized, what's in your wallet?  The answer: Our identification. Which in most cases are our drivers licences. But, what do these cards really identify? Our height, weight, eye/hair color and the state we live in. These are all outwardly evident. We don't need to look at a card to get the answers right. What they don't identify are the intangibles that make us who we are... so really, the card in my wallet really doesn't identify who I am. The essence of who I am cannot be visually produced at a moment's notice whenever I write a check, use a credit card or produce an ATM card to purchase something.
 
These thoughts then turned to the journey each of us have undertaken in the past 12 months. We welcome each new year with enthusiastic cheer. We make resolutions that we vow will change us. What we never take into consideration is how the new year will, itself, create changes in us.

I'll use myself as an example... I began the new year anticipating bilateral knee replacement surgery. Before that could be scheduled I had to endure unbelievable excruciatingly pain. It was SO painful, I have literally blocked it from my memory. Following surgery was physical therapy and the return to work. 9 months later am I the same girl as I was then? No. I am absolutely pain free and can out walk my entire family and pets. This was the much hoped for outlook my surgeon and I had planned; it took a lot of mental and physical preparation to arrive at this point. It's a wonderful place to land at the end of the year.

A new year also brings (in addition to things and events we are expecting) the unexpected. There will challenges, joys, unexpected stress, moments of blissful happiness. There will also be losses. We've lost both friends and pets this year. All of these things change us; we may or may not be aware of it, but they do.

So, again... if you were to ask me, if I am the same girl that I was at the beginning of 2012,
I would have to answer. No, she's someone that I used to know. But, I'm taking the best of who she was with me into 2013 and am looking forward with enthusiasm to the wonderfully exciting and unexpected moments that lie ahead. Because ready or not, life and a new year are waiting for us, and in the end, that is what will define who I am...