New Year's Eve! In many ways, this is my favorite day of the year. There is something so promising about the last day of the year. I love making plans, cleaning out the last of the Christmas decorations, getting my house ready, and embracing a new year.
One thing I do not like about the last day of the year is the laundry. My mother is quite superstitious, and she believes, and taught me, that carrying over dirty clothes into a new year is bad luck, and even worse luck will come if you dare to wash clothes on New Year's Day. This is hard to do in a family of six. So, as I type, my washer and dryer are humming along in their busiest day of the year. They get tomorrow off.
A good friend reminded me this morning that TODAY, December 31, 2010, is actually, and without doubt, the final day of this decade. This is a fact. I like to tell everyone I have a Millennium Baby, which I do if you agree that 2000 was the LAST year of the last millennium, but the fact remains that the first year of the new decade was actually 2001, and the final year is 2010. So because of that undeniable (but often disputed) chronological fact, today is the end of a decade. So, I'd like to dedicate this post to a reflection of the past decade.
One thing I do not like about the last day of the year is the laundry. My mother is quite superstitious, and she believes, and taught me, that carrying over dirty clothes into a new year is bad luck, and even worse luck will come if you dare to wash clothes on New Year's Day. This is hard to do in a family of six. So, as I type, my washer and dryer are humming along in their busiest day of the year. They get tomorrow off.
A good friend reminded me this morning that TODAY, December 31, 2010, is actually, and without doubt, the final day of this decade. This is a fact. I like to tell everyone I have a Millennium Baby, which I do if you agree that 2000 was the LAST year of the last millennium, but the fact remains that the first year of the new decade was actually 2001, and the final year is 2010. So because of that undeniable (but often disputed) chronological fact, today is the end of a decade. So, I'd like to dedicate this post to a reflection of the past decade.
Ten years ago today I was on the final days of my maternity leave, celebrating the fact that I had a bouncing baby boy but lonely as could be in the damp Pacific Northwest. I had some good friends, I had a decent job that I dreaded returning to, and I had a view of Mt. Hood from my window. I had a 50 minute drive to Timberline Lodge and a 50 minute drive to the Pacific Ocean. But I didn't have my parents, and I didn't have my parents-in-law, and I didn't have fried chicken and grits and Joy, Susan, or Jenny. So I started to plot and plan, and things fell into place. My company was sold in April of the next year, giving me enough severance pay to orchestrate a move back home.
Since I set foot once again on Georgia soil, and vowed to never leave it again, I have seen my beloved Buford Wolves win seven state championships, I have given birth to two more babies, I have planned a class reunion, I have bought a house, I have hauled my arguing father to the hospital with a stroke, I have watched his amazing recovery, I have lost my Uncle Nolan, my Uncle Buddy, and my precious friend Bjorn. I have reconnected with my old friends, and I have lost touch with some special ones. I have become a panther. I have become a Methodist. I have lost the greatest and most unusual cat in the world, only to be led to her clone 8 years later in a strange twist of events. I gained 90 pounds, and I have lost 70 of those again. I have struggled with financial security and been led to financial peace and back again, and back again, and back again. I discovered what was really important when my son was born too early and was in NICU, and I was led to peace and tranquility by a praying mantis. I learned that there are some people, no matter how many years pass, that are always there, and I unfortunately learned that there are some others, even if they appear to be in your corner, who are certainly not. I have gone from working 50 hours a week and commuting 20 hours a week to staying at home with my children and working when I have the opportunity. I have made some great new friends and I have also made some people very angry. I think I'm finding my place. This is me. This is who I am. This is who I am becoming.
Here's the deal, folks...I've spent the last decade going from being a 29-year-old lost soul on the other side of the country to a 39-year-old with a purpose, and I have savored the journey. I'm finding my purpose every day, and I'm finding it in the most unexpected of places. I'm finding it in the homes of old friends, the company of new friends, in a den full of Webelos and in a room full of Daisies. I'm finding it in a high school auditorium, at a keyboard, in a car, in a game, at breakfast, at a festival, and at a big, beautiful church I drove by every day but never thought to stop until one Sunday when the calling was too loud to ignore.
2011 is going to be special...I have no doubt. The class of 1989 is turning 40, and I intend to embrace that birthday at my happiest and fittest. I have the tools. I have the drive, and now I have it published so there's no going back. I'm ready. I'm willing. I'm not looking back.
Since I'm back to studying Italian, I'll leave you with this one phrase...
Attraversiamo. Let's cross over.
Happy New Year, friends.
