As I ponder on the new year, there is one significant thought that put all my resolutions, indeed my life, in perspective for 2014. And that is the fact that one of my dearest, most cherished friends was diagnosed in December 2012 with motor neuron disease at the age of 42; the disease has no known cause, absolutely no cure, and there is no treatment. In all but the rarest of cases, it is a terminal diagnosis with medical experts estimating a shockingly short 24 months from diagnosis to paralysis. His gorgeous daughter turned five a few days ago, and there is not a single day that I don’t think about his incredible courage, astounding resilience and overwhelming desire to see his daughter grow up to be the beautiful woman that she is guaranteed to become.

This knowledge makes me aware that every day we spend with our children is a blessing we cannot even begin to measure and that growing old is a privilege we can count ourselves lucky to attain. It also makes me all the more aware of my responsibilities in making the most of these amazing years with my precious babies.

While I have written about some of my personal goals in Time To… Skip the New Year Resolutions, there is one goal I haven’t mentioned there, which is my urgent wish to establish a charity dedicated to helping parents who find themselves forced to pack a lifetime of childhood memories into an impossibly short few years, even months, after receiving a terminal diagnosis. This charity is something I had hoped to achieve many months ago so it could significantly help my friend through the crucial first year after diagnosis, but balancing the demands of setting up this website, moving country, having a baby, and ‘stopping to smell the roses’ with my three year old once in a while have consumed that most finite of resources – time.

So today I am putting out an invitation to the astounding MyLittleStyleFile community: if you have ideas, resources, or simply the energy and desire to help make this charity a global reality in 2014, please send through your suggestions so we can start helping affected families make lifetimes of memories for their children.