Farewell 2009...

Well, here we are.  On a whole other Eve of a New Year.

With a full moon and Lunar Eclipse to add to the magic of leaving the old parts of yourself and your life that are no longer working for you behind...and jumping in with gusto to whatever it is that you truly desire.

I'm an Aries.

We jump in with gusto a lot.

Which is not to be confused with jumping into gumbo...which is may also be good, just in a whole different way.

I have one thing to say to 2009 as we part our ways:

Dear 2009,

You were a challenging year bringing a lot of growth.  I'm not saying that all my growth is over, but really?  Did it have to be so intense?  Maybe it did.  Maybe that's the only way I get things.  Kicking and screaming.  During this year, I was left feeling as though I was scrabbling a lot all while having no clue what the heck was going on and what was going to happen and what I was possibly supposed to do about all of it...but in the end?  I'm still here.  Still here to pick myself up, dust myself off, and live another day.

No matter how crazy things got, I found new happy surprises around a lot of corners...things I wasn't expecting in the least (and kind of wished I could have clung onto longer before the rushing rapids of your water flung me farther down shore...feeling like I was without a raft, I might add)  I pushed myself farther than I thought possible through relationships, business, emotions, and creativity.  I broke through some doors with incredible force, waltzed through others with a light step, and sat down sometimes in protest before I was picked up and forcefully moved along...and  still, I watched as other doors were gladly opened to me and then again while other doors closed while I was standing helplessly by not being able to effect them at all, and then watching the key be flung into the river of life and swirl away.

Bittersweet 2009.

Very bittersweet indeed.

But at the very end of this year, in the eleventh hour...I was once again reminded of all the magic.  Which put a smile on my face.

I know I'm fine tuning all that is me...

But seriously 2009?

Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Yours truly,

Me.

I raise a glass to toast with each and every one of you...I encourage you to write all the things down that you would like to leave in the old year and burn it under the moon at midnight...and open your arms to all the magic that you will create in 2010...and jump into the Gumbo with all you've got.

And I thank each and every one of you for finding me here in this wide world and coming along on my journey...I appreciate it more than I have words to say.