As I get another year older, I am certainly living for today and also in the moment that I have been given the privilege to be a part of.  It is interesting as we move on in life that we realize how much time is more precious and that the concept of waking up in the morning is an actual gift that is manifested, to provide me another day's opportunity to fulfill my life's purpose.  At times I still wonder if I am living up to my fullest potential, however, with age I have also given up being so critical of myself.  Through out my life I have felt like time stood still for me and then at other intervals I had the feeling that I was a DVD fast forwarding through several scenes.  What I do know as constant is that my life has been filled with many ups and downs, just like everyone else.  What I have learned is that if you are going through a low period, do not let that get to you and to still have a good attitude.  It makes getting through those periods much more manageable and for the most part, a lot of the trial portion of our lives we have very little direct control over.  I have learned that my personal outlook is what I do have the power to navigate.  I also look at the friends who are older and how they handle themselves with each passing year.  For the most part they are all very comfortable in their own skin and provide me glimpses of how life can even be more fulfilling in later years.   I laugh now at what I thought was important when I was much younger.  Many of those thoughts were so superficial or shallow oriented that it seems to me like I barely recognize who that person was years ago.  However, I do own up to who I was during that time and I am very glad to know that I have grown quite a bit since then.  What I have become is more grateful for everything that is part of my life and those individuals that add value to who I have become.  For the people that provide me with moments of laughter, thoughtful reflection or just a great listening ear that repeats what I just said, are the people I want around me.  They are all part of my existing moment and all of them in their own way has come to teach me something else about myself.  Therefore, I don't look at another year of being alive on this earth as yet another passing day that goes without notice.  On the contrary, I celebrate it along with the trying moments that came with it over the past year.  It makes me smile to know that some of those moments are far behind me and that I hope I learned the lesson that they were trying to teach me then.  Another year older, another year wiser and another year of work towards fulfilling the purpose of my life, is what I will think about before I go to be tonight and give thanks for the opportunities that are yet to come.