••• 2008 •••

As one year closes and another about to begin, I look back and I look forward.
Much like crossing the street, only in different directions!
The point of that is to monitor that you are carefully stepping out of the bonds of safety and into the unknown.....such is crossing over into a new year....this year seems to be an exception!

I gladly leave behind 2008 and move with enthusiasm into 2009. I do so all the while knowing I have done my utmost best to do my best. I cannot ask more of myself than that.
I have achieved some of my goals, exceeded others and grown personally, artistically and professionally. I have tried to give more than I got and be the best friend I could be to my dearest friends. I have met and made friends with people who enrich my life and let me see myself and my work through fresh eyes.
I have also lost dear people very close to me this past year. I miss them terribly but only because I know how deeply they shared and brought joy to me. It's all part of this circle which binds us and keeps us spinning on this beautiful planet we know as 'home'. I have been moved by the internal strength of friends who have endured great loss and hardship to come through the other side even stronger. Their force of will guides me and their determination focuses me. I am moved by their desire to not quit.

As I look towards the coming year, I know it will take everything in me to persevere in the economy we face. It's times like these I look back. Back to the stories shared by Aunts and Uncles and wrinkled Grandparents with smudged eyeglasses who faced difficult times. I loved hearing their stories about the Great Depression. As a child, their stories left me wondering why it was called 'Great'. I would look carefully at their time-worn faces and weathered hands to know they not only lived through such times, they lived to tell others about them! They survived!! This, to me, made them great!

They were my first heros!

Hero's long before what children today see as 'heros'. These folks scrimped and saved and I commit to memory their wisdom and dinner time stories. I feel respectful to learn from what they endured. Their survival became an art form I can repeat in some small way. Their strength a badge of honor.

So as we enter a new year, the winds of change blow through me and I find a chance to begin again.
These opportunities for great growth are both frightening and exhilarating....365 days from now I will let you know how it went!

To all my friends and blog readers, I wish you Tabula Rasa............'we begin again'.

The photo I share with you, this windy evening is that of my sweet soul-mate Jon........he is my love and my rock!
Together we will make the most of the year ahead!

Wishing peace,
Patricia