How did this happen? Not really the end of the year as much as the end of the holidays. I've been sick for the past 10 days. Really not the way to spend your holidays let me tell you. Curled up in bed tossing back codeine laced cough syrup and antibiotics that made me feel worse than the disease. No Christmas dinner. Alone in the house while the rest of the family went to celebrate. Then assuming the worst was over and I'd be feeling much better -- NOT. Still stuffy and coughing a week later.
So what have I learned from this experience? Christmas is just another day in the year. There is no right way to do Christmas. I have an amazing family -- husband, daughter, and son -- who all took up the slack and made sure presents were wrapped and delivered. Important food items were prepared and eaten. And in the midst of it all they kept the kitchen and laundry mostly caught up, all while checking on me, feeding me, getting me drinks, and meds, and just visiting me as I coughed my way through bags of cough drops and boxes of tissues.
Oddly, the other lesson I learned is how much I do for my family. I don't really think I do that much as a rule. Sure I wash clothes and dishes. I prepare meals and do the shopping. I pick up around the house, but somehow it doesn't seem like that much . . . until I couldn't do it. Until they had to handle it all themselves. Perhaps I'm not just taking up space. Perhaps I serve some useful purpose after all.
So on this last day of 2012 I encourage you to look back at the year and recognize what you do for others. Maybe you already know this, but maybe you're like me, and tend to assume the world would function just fine without you in it. You might be surprised.
Blessings of the new year where we all can find our purpose.
