Planning to Appreciate All We Have in 2010

Welcome back!

Like many people, every so often I think about moving.  Moving to a bigger house or a house with more bells and whistles. That line of thinking takes me down a number of paths.

To match my budget and preferences we’d have to either leave the community we love or take on a bigger mortgage or give up some other comfort I’ve grown to love.

Sure I would love to have a new kitchen with a center island or a bigger master bedroom or a large 2nd floor laundry room…I could go on and on.  But ultimately the kids tell me they’re happy right where they are because this is the home where their childhood memories were made.

I value that reason and I also value another important reason.  Our community.  We live in a town that celebrates it’s historic past and embraces green living and the principles of new urbanism.  I know that I can grow old in this community knowing that infrastructures are in place to protect the physical beauty and social environment of where we live.

Just now I was listening to folks on the television discussing their new years’ resolutions to live healthier and I thought this is the year I start walking again.  I love walking in our community – whether it’s through our town streets or in the Conservation park 5 minutes from our home.

So every time I start searching for where the grass might be greener, I stop to ask myself if that new “must have” is really greener? What is it that I already have in my own home and community that has contributed to making my life and that of my family’s richer and more meaningful? Is it worth giving up for something else that may or may not be better?

Appreciating what we have can be a hard task in this fast paced life we live in. There is so much out there on the Internet, on television, and in our social circles to drag attention away from what is important and what is giving us true happiness.

Instead of asking what new thing you’re going to do or adopt in 2010, I’d like to know what you plan to examine and embrace in your current life with fresh, appreciative eyes in 2010?