Each of us is a result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary. (Pope Benedict XVI)

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Dad sent me a text this morning which confused me at first. He was asking who was going to be “Mr. Irrelevant”. It was apparently a reference to the last guy chosen in the NFL Draft each year, but even though my house TV is rarely on any channel except ESPN, I was clueless. My sweet Dad was making a comparison he obviously felt was both clever and applicable. What he wanted to know was who would be this blog’s “last draft pick”, so to speak, in my “Mad for 2019” series. That was all the nudging I needed to let my freak flag show a little bit and choose…well…myself? Here’s the thing. I cannot handle the idea that some kind soul might just actually think as Dad suggested! Nope. No dice.

There are only 365 days in a year, and I still have a working list of spectacular folks I could write about but who for whatever reason did not appear yet. I may eventually do that, as the Holy Spirit moves in mysterious ways. For now, I am content to finish 2019 with a few words about the author, yours truly.

It sort of blows my mind that over 50,000 people have at one time or another stumbled across this tiny spot in the middle of the cyber mayhem this year. Here, I attempted to spend some time each day being grateful for the amazing folks in my path, and to be intentional about affirming them. It’s for the sake of these readers (I didn’t expect you all to show up) that I am going to answer a few common, personal questions I have received.

First of all, I am the wife of a handsome accountant named Tom and I spent about 10 years in corporate communications before I became a stay-at-home mom. We were high school sweethearts and this year we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. Said anniversary happens to fall on the feast of one of my all-time favorite saints, St. Therese of Lisieux. I hadn’t met Trixie yet when we got married, so I consider this happy “coincidence” a grace of our unbelievably generous God. Together, we have three sons. Our oldest, Nick, will graduate from Xavier University this spring. Drew is our Boilermaker, and like his dad, he’s studying to be an accountant. The baby, Zach, is 15 and a freshman at Guerin Catholic High School. My parents are Jim and Kathy Dykhuizen, and I have one sibling…a smarty-pants, science whiz named Robin who lives in the Chicago area.

A couple folks have expressed distress over the frequent grammatical errors in this blog. I want you to know that I am, in fact, capable of writing proper sentences– I just don’t wanna. This writing space is a place I intended as a “stream of consciousness” blog. Whatever comes into my head is what appears at my fingertips. I like to think that if you know me personally, you will hear my voice in the words. I’m simply not focused on or interested in perfectly formed paragraphs here, mostly because the imperfections are what make this an accurate and authentic reflection of me. I hope that doesn’t land as self-absorbed or narcissistic. I don’t mean to disregard the norms of the English language some of you hold quite near and dear. Maybe I’m just not your cup of tea, and that’s okay. I still sincerely thank you for the time you spent following along!

One reader emailed to tell me she can tell “the Catholic thing is a big deal to me, but she wishes I’d let it go already.” How about this? The Starbucks is on me if you haven’t met Jesus yet but you’re curious?

Let’s see. Yes, I have lost some weight this year. It’s always a compliment to tell someone they look nice, and it never occurred to me to be insulted. Lots and lots of you were worried about offending me. I’m not offended. At all. Actually, I started 2019 with cancer diagnosis, which turned out to be inaccurate (thank you, God)…and I ended the year right at 100lbs lighter. None of this story is a secret and I’d be glad to chat about it with anyone who is interested. Feel free to ask.

What else? I’m proud of myself for following through and affirming someone every day this year. It’s been a worthwhile task, one which has proven quite rewarding in ways I didn’t expect. I’ll tell you more another day. For today, it feels important to me to acknowledge that in my quirky little way, I tried to shine Christ’s light this year so some of you fellow weirdos would be reminded that you are an AMAZING child of the most high God and that you matter.

It took me a long time to get to the point that I could believe those last 14 words, and I know lots of you are still struggling with it too. Let’s work on being gentle with ourselves, huh? As I head into 2020, I’m going to try and be nice to old Shelly. I mean, yes, there are many things I’d like to improve upon. Oh goodness I’ve got a long way to go to be the holy woman our good and gracious God wants me to be. However, old me has survived and persevered through some challenging stuff. However she’s failed, she’s kind of a badass in her own crazy way. I mean, I arrived at Dec. 31, 2019 in love with the Lord and enamored and overwhelmed with gratefulness for so many blessings– including you kind people who are reading now. That’s a great place to start.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, ONE AND ALL!!

In every smile there is beauty. In every heart there is love. In every mind there is wisdom. In every human being there is a soul, there is life, there is worth, and there is the ability to see all these things in everyone, including one’s self. (Marc Chernoff)