Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011

Today is the last day of 2010 and while I am looking forward to a new year, I am also reflecting on the last 365 days. What an amazing, wonderful year this has been. Much the same as 2009 was the worst year of my life, 2010 has been the best year of my life! I am grateful that the two happened back-to-back, because the challenges of 2009 had diminished my joy for life and I needed a bad-ass, full of good things year to swing the pendulum the other way. While there are and always will be challenges in my life, this year is ending at a time when I feel so incredibly blessed for all that I have and everyone that I know.

At the top of my list, my own sweet boy, Matty, is happier than I have ever seen him. Matt has had an epiphanous year; he has learned much about himself and is becoming such a fine man. He is in a healthy and happy relationship with Brooke, and the blessing on top of that blessing is her daughter, BG (as previously noted, I am using the pseudonym Baby Girl). Matt is in love with the pair of them, and it fills my heart with warmth and joy to see how tender, kind and caring he is with his girls. There is nothing more fulfilling as a parent than seeing my adult child making good choices and loving his life!

Like Matt, I have learned a lot about myself this year. I think I am most content to know that my capacity for learning, changing and growing is still intact. As I settle in to mid-life, I have at times wondered if I am becoming too set in my ways. What 2010 has taught me, as I compare and contrast it with 2009, is that I can be thrown into new situations, sometimes hard, unappealing or even unimaginable, and I can get through them. What at first is scary or unknown can become part of a new normal, and I will be okay. Strike that. I will not only be okay, but my capacity for empathy and caring will actually expand, and I will be better than I was before because my understanding about life and humanity has amplified.

2010 unfolded and changed in ways I never expected or could have anticipated. As it draws to a close, I sit here happy, content, full of joy for where I am at this moment in my life. I have an amazing son, my parents are healthy and happy, my siblings and their families are all doing well, and I have been richly blessed with incredible friends. I have a good job, a nice home, and truly want for nothing because I am privileged to live in the richest country in the world.

I am thankful for 2010 being a kick-ass year and I am excited to say, "Hello, 2011!"