Reflections and Resolutions

Greetings all,

I hope you all had a wonderful Chranukwanzadan.

This one was very special for me as it was the first one I have been able to spend with my family since 2004. As I sit and contemplate this, I find myself looking at the coming new year with a new perspective. In recent years, around this time, I've faced the new year with trepidation and dread. As you all know, 2010 was not exactly a good year for me and coming into 2011 was daunting to say the least. If you had told me a year ago that I would be not only back home engaged to my school crush, I would have laughed in your face. Yet here I am, happy as can be.

So this year instead of the normal resolutions I've decided to give something back. Recently I became aware of the charity ICAN. This is a charity that helps children with communication problems. They say it better than I could so:

We are the children’s communication charity. I CAN’s mission is to ensure that no child who struggles to communicate is left out or left behind. Our vision is a world where all children and young people who struggle to communicate receive the help they need so that they can have a happy childhood, make progress at school and thrive as adults.

I grew up with (and still have) speech problems. It would have been fantastic to have had the support of a group like this. So this new years resolution is to support these guys. My first pledge is to donate to the Adopt A Word program.

Now I know this might look like a token effort so I have something larger up my sleeve to raise money. I can't go into too much detail just yet as it's all in the initial stages. Let's just say it will involve facing quite a few of my fears at one time. Not spiders though...that's just not going to happen...EVER!!

So what have you wonderful people decided to do this year?