Toodle-oo 2008

You've been quite the year, 2008. I stretched, I learned, I obsessed. I built up my art studio after a very long absence from the creative life and have started to work creatively again. I spent quality time with my son and saw him off to kindergarten. I had the summer off, something I wanted to do for a long time and it didn't even matter that it rained a lot. I got my hands dirty, in so many ways. I made some new friends and let go of one or two old ones. I had laser eye surgery and said good-bye to decades of glasses (and hello to reading glasses, but that's OK). I had some cancerous tissue cut out and have the scar to prove it. I let go of a few bad attitudes. I kept up with my exercise regimen and added yoga to my life. I adopted a neti pot and learned to love it. I've nurtured myself and been hard on myself. I've slept in, taken quiet time and done a pretty good job almost single-handedly raising my son to where he is now, a kind, generous, empathetic, funny boy of almost six. I've started the practice of getting up at 5:00 a.m. to have one precious hour to myself. I've given myself permission to take the last two weeks off of that early morning alarm. I started a blog and have been astounded at how it's added to my creative life. I've met so many wonderful people through the internet and luckily not received any nasty or derogatory comments (probably because only about 3 people read my blog, including family members). After taking ten months off of work, I found a job in these crazy and uncertain economic times, one that lets me work flexible part-time hours, so important to me and my lifestyle. I've made lots of people, as well as myself, laugh.

There is so much good that has come from this year. And one of the most important lessons was taught to me about regret, right at the end. I feel like I squeezed the most out of this year. I think I'm ready for 2009. One toe in the water, the rest of the foot on the shore, balancing. Thanks to everyone who contributed to making this year so wonderful, you will never all know who you are or how much you touched my life.