Note to Self

Each year, as I put away Christmas, I write myself a little note. I jot down what I am feeling or what's going on in my life, and I usually write down WHO I am thinking about (read: obsessing over) at that very moment. It's just a "here's where I am today" kind of note. I always end it with, "So...how are things now?" and then, I pack it away in one of the boxes of Christmas ornaments.

OK, as I re-read that last paragraph I realize that it sounds kinda cuckoo. But, I gotta admit, it's very interesting to find and read these year-old notes as I prepare to decorate the following Christmas. I always laugh out loud when I read it....I laugh at what I was worried about a year ago and, over the last few years, I am truly amazed at the WHO I was so concerned with one year earlier! Sometimes, even the paper the note is written on has a special meaning at the time of its writing, which I find hysterical (read: ridiculous) the next year. But it reminds me of where I've been and the progress I've made and how life just keeps getting better.
Actually, more than anything else, each note is a great little lesson in perspective. The things I am so concerned about today are very rarely a concern at all a year later. And, that person who took up so much of my time, thoughts, feelings and energy--yeah, a year later I realize I haven't really thought of him for months.
Life went on. And, year after year, my notes are reminders--or proof--of just that.
So I just finished putting away this year's Christmas...and tucked my little note inside one of the boxes to be found and read as I decorate for Christmas 2009. Where will I be next year at this time? What will I be concerned with and worried about then? And WHO will I be with (or be obsessing over) at that point?
Not gonna worry about it right now. The house is clean and quiet.
Christmas 2008 was wonderful and life is really good.
Actually, that's exactly what I wrote on the note...