It’s finally happened. The year 2016 is officially over – we can now breathe a sigh of relief. This year has been one of exciting highs and also earth shattering lows, both for me personally as well as the rest of the world. It’s been a bad year for politics, and an even worse year for famous people’s longevity.

We lost David Bowe and Alan Rickman, then Prince and Gene Wilder. Harper Lee and Elie Wiesel and Florence Henderson. The list goes on and on. And just when I thought 2016 must surely be done with all the death, Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds pass on consecutive days.

My personal 2016 highs and lows weren’t quite as marred by death, but they weren’t bereft of it either. I lost my grandmother this year, though not entirely unexpected it rocked my world all the same. It was a low I’m still recovering from.

There were highs as well. I graduated college; a feat I sometimes felt was impossible while trying to finish school as a single mom. A month later my best friend moved away, now we live with a whole giant country between us. Then I started writing this column, another unbelievable high in my 2016.

It’s been a year of growth, and also a year of giant steps backward. I suppose that can be said of any year, but to me this year felt like it got stepped up a notch on the emotional whiplash o-meter.

I’ve never been one for making New Year’s resolutions, mostly because I’ve failed one too many times. Vowing to change behaviors like eating or exercising, or quitting this or that habit at the start of a new year has never worked out for me. It’s never worked out for most people I know actually. It’s much more fun to just sit back and make bets on how long I think each person will accomplish said resolutions.

As carefree as my current attitude towards resolutions may be, there is one thing I’ve decided is worthy of making into a goal for the next year. I’m a realist, so I realize there’s a good chance 2017 is going to have just as many crazy lows as 2016 did.

So my resolution for 2017 is to spend more time appreciating the highs that come along, and focus less on the negative left behind from those inevitable lows. And the one source of happiness that I can always count on to brighten even my most negative days is my daughter.

I resolve to appreciate these last few months before my daughter starts school and begins her journey to leaving me. There will only be a limited number of days where I will have all her attention to myself. I resolve to not waste any of them. I resolve to hug her more and hug her longer, while she’s still willing to let me set the time limit on affection.

I resolve to appreciate all the times she wants to cuddle, even when it’s at least opportune moment. I want to spend more time basking in her unconditional love and less time worrying about how I may have screwed her up today. I resolve to appreciate even the tantrums and tears, because I know there will be those too.

Making my resolution to be more positive next year even changes the way I think about the last one. Yes there were many low points, but even 2016 wasn’t that bad. Because for every one of the last 364 days, I was lucky enough to be Skye’s mom.

And that is worth celebrating, every day of every year.

***