Life Juice Resolutions

Over the course of the past year I have made many changes and accomplished so many goals.  I became a working mother, blood donor, triathlete, half marathoner, and my biggest athletic accomplishment IRONMAN70.3!!!
Some of these goals I've had most of my life, and others (i.e. Ironman) were evolutions of other dreams.  But no matter what the goal I honestly don't think I could have done any of them without accomplishing the first dream of becoming a mommy. Abney's mommy.
Since she has come into our life I feel I have started to become the best version of me.  I'm still full of faults: short tempered, obsessive compulsive, over-analytical, the list goes on...but I really believe that since Abney entered our world I've become somewhat less focused on the trivial matters and more focused on thriving the way I so desire.
She inspires me.
Motivates me.
Captivates me.
I know it sounds corny, but she completes us.  I've been (as usual) slightly obsessed with reading other blogs with stories that include losses I cannot begin to comprehend.  Challenges that make what I've endured seem more like comparing a half marathon to the full marathon.  It has made me look around at my family both in my home and far away, my beloved friends who are always there for me, and take a deep breath to breathe in the life I've been blessed to live.
I'm still not great at avoiding getting caught up in trivial moments.  The disaster that is a messy house can send me over the edge, and the list of "to do's" can overwhelm me to the point of not sleeping.  But at the end of the day, I'm so very happy for my life and my loved ones. All of you.
So here I am, well into 2011 and continuing the path we've already been on.  I have another half marathon March 20th, Olympic Distance Triathlon May 1st, and another 70.3 on May 15th.  All while raising over $5938 so far with my wonderful husband for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in honor of our friend Sarah and our journey we are calling SARAH STRONG.
Some people think we're crazy, some people think it makes us heroes, but other people know it's just "life juice." The thrill of knowing that blood is coursing through our veins and we've been given the chance to wake up and take another deep breath.
To turn to each other and soak in our love.  To look at our beautiful daughter and dream about our future as a family; our dreams for more children and who they will be and what they will do.  The ability to begin each day as it it were on purpose, and to do everything we can to thrive in it.
That's why last Friday after Ben and I exceeded our respective fundraising goals, I went to the Red Cross to make my second donation.  I did even better than I did my first time (my 2010 New Year's Resolution), and feel confident that I can continue to give to others and to the world in this way.
As the wonderful nurse said to me when I finally had the courage to look at what I called the "gross blood" in my bag;  "That's not gross, that's life juice."  My life juice is somewhere out there coursing through 2-6 other people's veins.  People I may never meet but have somehow helped.  I like to dream that they may be a young baby, a new mom, a cancer patient on their way to recovery.  I dream that they take my blood and pay it forward by thriving in their opportunity to breath in again.
And that is my 2011 New Year's Resolution.  To take my life juice and take time to breathe.  To stop over-committing myself and focus on enjoying the moments today.
Slightly more difficult to check off a list and certainly more challenging than donating blood, but a resolution and a challenge I think I can do.  I'm taking a look at my days, my weeks, and cutting out the clutter where I can and focusing in on enjoying the moments.
So there you have it.
Now help hold me accountable.
I'd like to go from, "Hello my name is Julia and I'm a stressball." to,
"Hello my name is Julia."
Plain. Simple. FABULOUS!