2014: Countdown On A Year Of Change

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Change. Life is all about change.

I just wish it wouldn’t change so fast.

This year has seen more than its fair share of change and transition. Looking back over the past year, I can’t help wondering how I managed to get this far with my sanity intact.

Mostly intact.

A little bit intact.

Did someone say sanity?

Change Quote 6

January

We embark on the new school year in the knowledge that this will be one of moving towards change. The Eldest Son in his final year of school, the Youngest Son finishing his time in primary school. And we move into the difficult middle year with the Middle Son. Change is all around us.

February

We send our Middle Son off on the adventure of a lifetime to spend eight weeks in Thailand with school. It is a time of challenge and change for all of us as we let go just a little bit more.

March

Twenty years after the death of his wife and daughter, having raised two young boys into fine young men on his own, my brother-in-law remarries. It is a day of great joy tinged with sadness. He moves away, begins a new career with a new family. The extended family space changes and adapts once more.

Change Quote 3

April

A dear friend dies suddenly and we are confronted with the reality of the struggle with ageing and illness. Life is changed not only for his family and friends but for the local theatre scene of which he was such a large part. (http://wp.me/p3OKST-d9)

May

Along with my three team mates, I successfully complete the Oxfam Trailwalker 100km challenge in 25 hours 35 minutes. More importantly, we raise $6,500 and change the lives of hundreds of people we will never meet. (http://wp.me/p3OKST-ft)

June

I get my first work for the year in a special school for children with severe disabilities as a relief teacher. It will be a change of career that will come to feed my soul.

Change Quote 1

July

My father dies. And life is changed forever. (http://wp.me/p3OKST-pi)

August

One of my dearest friends undergoes a heart transplant. I marvel at the miracle of science and what can be done to keep a person alive. In such a transaction, however, it is more than one life that is changed. It is a new stage of life for both the recipient of the heart and the family of the donor. Life and death. Life in death.

September

The Eldest Son turns eighteen. I change into a parent of an adult and I wonder how on earth that happened. (http://wp.me/p3OKST-we)

Change Quote 5

October

A friend issues the challenge to enter my first “fun run” (the most obvious oxymoron ever). Not inclined to do things by halves, I accept the challenge to run a half-marathon. I change into a Spreadsheet Slave as I commit (as I only I can) to the suggested training regimen. How many more months do I have to do this?? (http://wp.me/p3OKST-AZ)

November

The Eldest Son graduates from secondary school. One stage ends, another begins. What change is ahead is only a guess until results and offers come through in the new year.

The Youngest Son turns thirteen and I change into a parent of three teenage boys. I don’t know how that happened either.

December

The Youngest Son graduates from primary school and after thirteen years, we are done with the junior years forever. We await the impact of the change to secondary school for the ‘baby’ of the family, confident that he will make his own mark just as his brothers have before him.

Change Quote 2

 

Change. Life is all about change. And as we journey into 2015, it will continue to change and to grow.

A new adventure awaits.

Change Quote 4

 

 

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37 thoughts on “2014: Countdown On A Year Of Change”

  1. A year of change, certainly. A year probably tainted most by deep sorrow. A year in which your own family brought you joy.
    A year of contrast.
    Whatever the coming one brings you, you’ll gain from it what you did from this one – understanding.
    XO

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  2. Oh, now it is my turn to be tearful. Sorrow and joy, joy and sorrow, the teeter-totter of life. What beautiful quotes you’ve chosen to go along with this post, for me especially the Anatole France. You are quite the master, if I may say so, of writing a meaningful post and you’re quite right, a new adventure awaits. Thanks for sharing yours.

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  3. You’ve had quite a year – and I thank you for sharing it with us. Life is constantly changing and we change and adapt to the new ways and new roads that life takes us on and embrace life. I wish you well in 2015 , you and your boys, and a safe journey…
    Jude xx

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  5. “The important thing at any moment is to be able to give up who you are for who you could be” – Claude Dubois

    Or Claude Dubious, as a sceptic said, in a Freudian slip moment.

    Or: “Change is inevitable. Except from parking meters.”

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    • Thanks, Sue. I will be counting on you and Dave to whisk me away to exotic and adrenaline-pumping locations should the whirlwind rise up again and I need to escape. Thanks for your fun and inspiration this year. Looking forward to much more fun next year. 🙂

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  7. You may quip about being a Master of Something Yet, but let me tell you one thing that’s for certain – you have mastered riding the waves of life. Cheers to you. All the best in 2015. And yes, you are completely sane.

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    • The surfboard is a bit battered and there’s a large chunk out of it where I nearly got eaten by a shark but it’s still keeping me afloat so that’s the main thing. Thanks for the fun discussions this year, Maggie. Wishing you much happy rock hunting in 2015! 🙂

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  9. There isn’t anything I could possibly say better than those who commented before me.
    I didn’t catch up with you until half way through the year and I’m rocked by the magnitude of the peaks and valleys you have negotiated in the past 12 months. To call it change is a major understatement.

    I wish you a new year filled with joy and laughter! ❤

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  11. Isn’t this terrific ? – a wonderful post, followed by affectionate, meaningful comments from an amazing group of bloggers.
    Wow ! – are we great, or what ?!
    (and no, I ain’t kiddin …)

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  13. Working with kids with disabilities must be challenging but really rewarding. 🙂
    Yes, an uppy-downy year, but you’ve made it through, and entertained along the way. I hope 2015 is kind to you and yours.

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    • I always come home totally exhausted – mentally, emotionally and physically – but always feeling I’ve done something good with my day. I love it. 🙂
      Thanks for your wishes, Jo, and I hope the same for you and your family. See you ’round the blogosphere!

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  14. You have certainly had a year of change and you have changed as a result. It is so hard to lose your father let alone the other changes that happened through 2014. I hope that the changes that come with 2015 are ones that you can look back on with joy, not sorrow. 🙂

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