Goodbye, and good riddance

It's already 2008 in a good portion of the world, and will be here in exactly 6 hours. We were planning to have a couple of good friends over for dinner and game night to ring in the new year, but the cold I came down with has only gotten worse so I had to call it off. So, we'll be spending the evening at home under a blanket while I try not to cough myself to death. While spending the evening with the hubby under a blanket by the fire is a good thing in itself, it seems a fitting end to a year where nothing has gone has planned. As someone at work said, it's been a year where everything has needed to be a Plan B. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I consider 2007 to be the worst year of my life. I won't go into what made it all so bad, but you probably already know. So, as 2007 comes to a close, the best thing I can think to say is "It can't end soon enough!"

Instead of rehashing all the bad things that happened in 2007, to me and the people I care about, I think I should concentrate on the good things that did happen in the last year. Yes, there were plenty of good things, and it would be so easy to let them be overshadowed by the negatives. If there was every any doubt, I'm definitely an optimist. I've taken all the negative things that happened and still managed to find positives in them. As it turns out, most of the positives were things that I learned by trying to cope with the negatives.

The saying that "Wisdom comes from experience" certainly is true. I learned this year that I'm actually a much stronger person than I ever thought possible. I've dealt with things this year that prior to this I wouldn't have thought I could handle. It was dealing with all the crap that made me stronger, so indeed some good did come of it all. I also realized that I'm pretty good at taking control of a situation without being an asshole about it.

I learned that I know how to take things one day at a time, and that the theory really works. I figured out who my real friends were this year and also learned that it's okay to open up to them; if they're true friends, they won't run away. In fact, my true friends rallied around when things were tough and I'm forever grateful to them. I learned that I truly can't fix everything (even though I've often tried) and that it's okay to lean on people. I also learned that I'm pretty good at utilizing my resources to get things done.

I learned this year that my relationship is even stronger than I thought. I always knew we had a very strong bond, but dealing with things together this year cemented that even further. Instead of the bad things tearing us apart like I've seen happen to so many other couples, it brought us closer together. I'm definitely thankful for that.

I don't believe in New Year's resolutions. I've always thought it a bad idea to take on an arbitrary commitment just because we hang up a new calendar. However, I can say that I will be taking the things I learned in 2007 into 2008 in order to make it a good year. Maybe that's something of a resolution after. I'm still counting down the minutes until this wretched year ends, and as it does I would like to say to it: "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out."