“Looking back at this decade, I can see how far I’ve come, learned, grown, suffered, healed, blossomed, and accomplished. Life is good.”
~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis
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Today is January 1, 2023…….. On January 1, 2013, I gave myself a daunting challenge to start a blog on WordPress and see if I could find something to write about EVERY DAY, for one entire year. Well, I met that challenge, and today, I have written a blog post EVERY DAY for ten years, an entire decade. Wow!
When I started out in 2013, I was married, with a beautiful family and a host of wonderful friends. My life was great. My stories were about fun activities on the square, tennis matches, art venues, visits with my sons, Mom, and sister in Chicago, and great times with friends. By the middle of that year, my life was turned upside down by a blind-sided betrayal and looming divorce. 2013 was not a great year. I was a mess, but I kept writing and sharing my stories. Some were painful and others promising. That’s when I discovered that sharing my stories with family, friends and complete strangers helped me heal and grow. THANK YOU ALL!
I’ve decided that this will be my last day of daily journaling here on WordPress. Not because I’m out of stories, but because I’m out of data storage here, and they charge a lot of money each year to add more storage. Once I stop paying, all my posts will be deleted. But, Sid is trying to back-up my posts so I can have a 10 year journal of my life. It’s fun to look back and see my journey. I’ll still post on Facebook and maybe find another site, but I’m retiring my WordPress renewal. So when that’s up, “That’s all she wrote.” Ten years is a pretty awesome accomplishment. 👍🏼 “I AM AMAZING.”
Another tradition of mine is on January 1, I read all the little notes in my GOOD JAR. These are notes that I put in about good things that happened, and also notes that friends pop in there when they visit. I love looking back at the good times and reading the messages. I also count up the coins and lucky pennies that I’ve found along the way. I put them in a ziploc bag and mark the year. Everyone should have a GOOD JAR. Awesome memories.
Other accomplishments have been my walking and photographing sunsets. I try to get out every day and walk, enjoying the sunshine or braving the cold. The best part are the awesome sunsets. I looked at my phone and it said I took 1,493,945 steps in 2022. I looked up about how many miles that would be… around 653.4 miles…give or take. Cool!
Living here in Texas, another tradition is to eat black eyed peas on New Year’s Day for luck. So, I made a big pot from scratch, with the dried beans. I never did that before. Now, I’m going to turn it into my awesome Texas Caviar Salsa, with roasted corn, jalepeño diced tomatoes and salsa. Yum!
The past ten years have taught me SO much, and with each year I have blossomed into the AMAZING person that I am today. OK, that’s an inside joke with my friends. I always say, “Miss Toni is….?” And they have to say, “AMAZING!!!!” (But, it’s true.)
Happy New Year and may you have an AMZING 2023! ❤️
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Toni Andrukaitis 