Dear Kid,

There are 525,600 minutes in a year (most of the time anyway). Some minutes seem longer than others, but we all get the same general allotment.

2013 has been a year full of change for you: turning 18 and being legal, graduating from high school, starting college, joining the crew team (I didn’t predict that one), finishing your first semester of OU (OU, Oh Yeah), and possibly several other things I don’t need to know about.

News flash: 2014 will be full of change too.

Not that I know of any particular event(s) waiting in the wings to pounce (my ESP is lousy), but college is a time full of new and interesting experiences. The world is generally full of change but somehow college intensifies the “changiness”. Or maybe it just compresses a lot of change into a short time. Or focuses the changes around you. Or all of the above.

You can’t necessarily predict the changes and you can only control some of the changes, but you can always control your reaction and response to change.

Many people will spend a great deal of time writing New Year’s Resolutions (crowded gym for the first few weeks of January anyone?). Resolutions are (imho) a fine thing, but crazy difficult to stick to for most of us. Maybe we should add to our list being able to face change with grace and kindness. Not that that one will be easy to stick to all the time, but it’s probably worth the effort.

My wish for you is that all the changes you encounter are (in some way, shape, or form) positive ones.

Happy almost 2014!

Love, Mom

Need an idea for a new year’s resolution? Why not resolve to read DearKidLoveMom every day? Just sign up to have the posts delivered straight to your email box. (It’s painless, I promise.) Just add your email to the box in the top right corner and click the “Heck yeah, sign me up” button.