goal setting

I have a friend.  A really lovely, considerate, pregnant friend.  She and her doctor husband hosted our brood {yes all of us—including dogs} over the New Year’s weekend.  We had a delightful time.  But this post isn’t about that, exactly.

Yesterday, my lovely pregnant friend posted on her blog about the new year, about dreams and disappointments, goals and realizations. She summed up her post with a word; a goal word of sorts that she is going to keep at the forefront of her mind as she travels this 2012 path.  Her word was intentional.

Little did my friend know that I had been thinking along the same lines after seeing a Pinterest activity of the same sort.  {Oh pinterest, why so consuming?}

I’m not one for resolutions.  Although I’m quite big on short and long term goals, resolutions have never really worked out for me.  Sure, I’d love the be healthier, be neater, maybe stop biting my finger nails, but in the long run that stuff never happens.  Life is life.

Last year I strived for balance.  A balance of me. Of being a mama, a wife, a friend, a daughter, and a teacher.  I think focusing on that one goal helped me to recenter and refocus; as a type A multi-tasker I could always do better, but I’m satisfied with my effort.

With this new year comes a new goal, and a new word: present.

You see, my multitasking self is forever juggling.  Cooking while talking on the phone, bath time with making a grocery list, grading papers while talking to Lofton about our days... and while able to do all those things is useful, it means I'm never really focusing on one thing, one moment.  I'm never really present.

No longer.  Bath time is for splashing, for listening to crazy made up stories about dinosaur sponges.  Talking to Lofton is about sharing my day and learning about his, really listening because that's what keeps our marriage tank full and functioning.

I vow to be present, to be in the moment, to enjoy the little everyday moments more.  Because soon my little moment maker won't have dinosaur stories and splash parties in the tub, he'll have football games and girlfriends and slumber parties with his big boy friends.

Present.