Everybody Appreciation Day

In our family we all have goal books in which we list many of the things we want to do, achieve or experience in our lives. Lovely Boyfriend and Wonder Girl each have over 100 goals. Fierce Teenager and I don't have quite so many. Even WG's best friend, Little E, has a book at our house, and every once in a while we gather around the table for progress reports.

After church today, we sat before a spread of veggies and dip, strawberries and spinach pizza. LB and I had kombucha-mimosas (non-alcoholic), and the girls had sparkling cider. The champagne flutes always lend an air of festivity. As usual, some goals had received more attention than others, but we all set our intentions for February 2008.

FT: Work harder in track. She didn't want to quantify this, because, she says, she'll know if it's happening or not.

WG: Do 7 pull-ups straight by month's end. (It's embarrassing that this is my 9 year old's goal, when I can't do a single one!)

Lil E: Start guitar lessons.

LB: Have his business plan ready to present by month's end.

Me: Return to, and maintain, 90% Raw. Yeah, I'm setting that intention out loud again. I've been getting there over the last week or so, but I need to jump in and stay in.

We finished up with an exercise recommended in church today. Everyone's name went in a bowl, and was drawn out one by one. As each name was chosen, we all took a few minutes to write down some of the things we appreciated about that person. Then one person read all the responses aloud. It was a cool thing. Next time, though, I'm saving those written thoughts of appreciation. They wouldn't hurt to have on hand on a less than wonderful day.