2011...

i find this post hard to write...it's no secret this has been a tough year...for many it seems.  i feel like i should at least acknowledge the events, but honestly don't see the point.  i don't want to recap it all...it happened...i spent enough time on it all at the time...and now i just want to look forward.  life happens.  each time we think we have it all together, that life just can't get any better, we are hit with a curveball of reality.  or, at least for me, that's how it seems to happen.
  
i don't make resolutions.  never have.  i refuse to set myself up for failure right off the bat.  i find that the year always throws enough at me on its own without me just handing it something to work with.  last year the only thing i promised myself i would do is live each day with pupose...i'm not certain i did that...unless you count simply surviving on many days as a "purpose".  this year wasn't what i expected...things i was certain would happen did not, yet things i never would have anticipated have.

i learned a lot this year.  some knowledge is hard-earned, but i think that's what makes it so valuable.

every loss, every gain is relative.  some more significant than others for sure, but each monumental only to those experiencing them.  it's how we handle the moment, what we learn, how we move through them that counts.

i remember wishing desperately for this year to get over.  to either go back to 2010 or forward to 2012.  well, forward it is!  the first hour of 2012 was a good one...spent with friends, dancing, laughing, and having a great time!  i am excited about the next 12 months!  good-bye 2011...you won't be missed, but you will be remembered. 

here's to 2012...may you be everything we need you to be...full of promise and hope.  let us not forget the lessons of the past, but look to the future with anticipation, never to repeat the mistakes but to learn from them and gain wisdom and empathy, sharing in each other's joys and carrying each other's burdens.  here's looking forward to stronger friendships, even more fantastic memories, and the incredible ride we call life!

happy new year everyone!