Hi Shawna. Take a seat. Over there, or on my lap, doesn't matter, I have to go into old fogey mode for this sort of thing so you are almost perfectly safe. JDV and Amit are still swilling the spiked eggnog, and Nick and Panama are playing pool. Carrie is about somewhere, she disappeared with the IT guy a while back.

You been actually thinking about life and where it should go? Odd, unusual, and mature of you. Most people never do til it is too late.

You will want many things. Happiness, success, a strong relationship, healthy kids, a fulfilling sex life, the usual range of consumer goods and the money to pay for them, excitement within a steady routine - all stuff you will want, indeed expect, out of life. Work for them, you will get them, eventually. Don't work for them, you won't get them. That is the way of the world.

But for what you should want ...

This one is hard to answer - not because it is hard to write, but because it is hard to believe until you have lived it for yourself. I am still fumbling my way on this. Life has a way of setting you up, then kicking you hard, squarely in the crotch. That happens to everyone. It is how you meet it that defines you. Some meet it with rage, others with fear. The truly happy meet it with grace.

So,

You should want to be the best person you can be.

Don't miss chances. Don't waste your gifts. Don't be scared. Don't be mean. Don't settle for second best from yourself, or for yourself. Don't forget that life is the stuff that happens while you are planning and waiting for something else. Don't miss out today cause you are waiting for tomorrow.
Try new things. Retry old things. Count your blessings every day, your problems once a month. Don't stop learning - ever. Meet life half way. There is beauty in tragedy, and comedy in disaster. Learn to see the good, even as you mourn the bad.
Yes, you will screw up. You are human. We all do. That doesn't matter - the trying does.

Merry Christmas to you, dear.

Back on the 26th, unless someone has a panic question.