Out With the Old!

So long, 2015! You brought turmoils and triumphs and gave a fine example of a wild roller coaster ride. I know I'm not alone in happily ushering you out the door; your replacement is moving in. Tonight!

You flashed bright lights on the worst of people and the best of people, and sometimes it seemed the worst side was winning. Lessons were hard fought to get to the truer view, that we can only do what we can do, but we sure as hell better do it. When the love of freedom and a respect for life combine, it's pretty powerful goo. 

Being a small fish in a big pond is better than not being a fish at all!

You gave me the realization that it's okay to be afraid and just keep on going anyway; it seems the worst that can happen is a crash and the dark, but really? The worst that can happen is playing it so safe nothing happens at all. 

I learned I really don't want to meet a bear in the woods. But if I do, I'll be ready as possible. 

Just meeting a running load of bull is plenty awakening

In the wake of your days, I re-learned (and will again and again) too many times about grieving and saying final farewells, whether I was there to say them or just had to accept that last farewell, even if it was years in the past, really was the last one. That's the lesson that sometimes motivates me the most, living out loud to celebrate those who aren't still on the journey with me. That laughing and crying are the same coin that never stops flipping.

I found out (for sure this time, I mean it!) that plans are just a way to get to goals and that holding tight to plans means you might never get to the goal. I learned to let go to go forward. With sweaty hands clenched with fingers so tight that uncurling them took conscious effort. But wow, did it feel GREAT! 

It's a great big beautiful world out there;
I've just begun scratching the maps

Here's the zen of it, every step taken forward already is the goal reached in getting to the Goal. Got that? Of course you do.

I learned I really am not a mountain Mama. Give me a flat coastal road any day, even while the thrill that scared the hell out of me majesty of those mountains and cold waters meeting is a drama I'm looking forward to exploring more.

2016 isn't a date on the calendar, it is a mindset, already happening, a re-falling in love with life and loved ones that has me grinning and excited. It is in the faces of the crazy crop o' babies born this year, with more on the way. I look back at old photos of old year endings and see children who are now almost adults and others well on the way there. It goes fast, doesn't it, gentle reader? 

Hold tightly loosely, buckled in and waving free, to yourself and to each of your loved ones. The ride will be taking off. Now.