New Years Resolution Update

A quick update on my New Year's resolutions.  I did my first of fifty-two of my #1 resolution today: 

Resolution #1. Call at least one friend every week this year to tell him/her how wonderful he/she is.

I chose (sort of at random) a girl with whom I went to high school.  I guess I should refer to her as a woman now, huh?  To me everyone I grew up with will always be a "guy" or "girl" not grown ups.  In any case, the girl I chose, we will call her "D", is one of many people with whom I lost touch after graduation in 1985 and have become reacquainted via Facebook.

D is married and has 3 kids and, from all I have observed on Facebook, she is devoted to her family and is loving and wonderful mom of kids who are seemingly polite, well dressed, popular, and are active in school.  I think that is a huge accomplishment in today's crazy world.  A few years ago I believe D had a bunch of serious health problems but it didn't dampen her spirit over the long run. Again, a big accomplishment.  Her Facebook posts are always happy, positive, and/or funny. She is certainly not one of those people who posts angry political or religious rants which is one thing I like about her.

Anyway, for reasons I can't really put a finger on I chose D as my very first "tell someone who wonderful she is" recipient.  I don't have her phone number so I couldn't call her and I don't have a mailing address so I couldn't send a card. Instead I just posted a few line on Facebook to say that she is a wonderful person and a wonderful mother.

D's response was so amazing. Turns out she had been having a bad day and my words cheered her up! And a bunch of our mutual friends chimed in to agree with my comments.  That made my day! It almost made me want to accelerate my plan and tell a few other friends how great they are. But I think I need to pace myself so I held back.

The key to this particular resolution is sincerity. These are my informal guidelines for myself:

1. I won't shower compliments on anyone whom I don't actually think is wonderful in some way. 
2. I won't overstep the boundaries of our relationship...in other words, I won't get too personal with someone I don't know well.  I know it's the Year of Inappropriate but this particular resolution will be as appropriate as I can make it. I don't want to be creepy after all.
3. I will focus my comments/compliments on things I have direct knowledge of based on my personal interactions with or observations of the person I am complimenting.

And that's it. 1/52 of my 2014 New Year's Resolutions successfully completed.