Christmas is over, the rush should be winding down and the New Year looms ahead.

The passage of time marches ahead and it seems like there is nothing to do right now except for deciding when to take down the tree.

I always find the lull between Christmas and New Year’s to be a little sad and often I’m not sure what to do with myself. It’s a sad/happy time that can draw out feelings of reflection or it can inspire you to begin planning and searching out what you will accomplish in the New Year.

This will be the second Christmas in a row without my daughter, last year she was in Japan with friends and this year she is living in Scotland while she takes a gap year from university.

It has been an eventful few months for her and I have seen so much growth and change in her as she has ventured out on her own.

When 2018 started she was fresh from her Japan excursion and excited to see more of the world. She was in the final months of earning her English degree and I’m sure had no idea what the latter part of 2018 would bring as she studied and developed her thesis (which I’m still not sure I understand).

Sometimes you just can’t plan for the wonderful turns and twists your life will take.

One moment you are reflecting on your past year and then you are buying a plane ticket, visiting an open house or picking up items for a home project. Sometimes it can happen to us, we have no control when a seed may be planted in our heads and when it sprouts – that is definitely the most unpredictable!

I have met with people who find a beautiful piece of art that will change their whole interior or meet with a couple who just happened to wander into a shelter and found the pup that stole their hearts requiring them to get a house with a bigger yard.

It absolutely happens in life, we can stumble upon unexpected things which take our lives in a completely wonderful turn.

I know people who have vacationed and decided to never leave a location and suddenly their lives are in motion to pack and move and establish new roots on the other side of the world; I am sure that was not what their travel agent had in mind!

When my daughter embarked in September it was her intention to tour around with some friends while looking at universities, something happened in Aberdeen Scotland and she fell in love with the charming place and told me she was going to stay for awhile. Now she is working and living in a rented room on a charming street by the sea. All I can say is, wow.

Our want to control our everyday environment is a normal instinct in most of us and it can be very unsettling when something jumps into that formula and shakes up the status quo.

Even when we may be looking at something positively life-changing, we can long for the comfort and security of our day to day even when it felt predictable and maybe a little bit sad.

Kim Wyse is a Central Alberta freelance designer. Find her on facebook at ‘Kim Wyse Associate Royal Lepage Tamarack Trail Realty’.