It's a brand new year ... imagine the possibilities

Welcome to our first footing in the new year. 2010 is pristine, fresh as the powdered snow falling in the mountains. Her Valentines have not yet been delivered, nor have the first blossoms of spring emerged from the cold earth. Words on the pages of her history have not yet revealed themselves. 2010 is an open book waiting to be etched with what will be forever known as its very own events ... some infamous and filled with horror, others tiny yet filled with profound joy.

For me, well it is my final year as a fifty-something ... skeptical as to whether 60 is really the new 40. God I hope so. That decade would culminate in the me as my best self: a seasoned professional, a new mom, the confidence (or bravura) to uproot my small family of two from the rarefied northeast to the edge of the prairie. My 40s presented me with incredible opportunities and new pathways albeit a bit littered with those inevitable challenges that were scattered along the route at the most curious junctures. When times got jumbled up and a bit sour tasting (as they somehow always do), I motored ahead with as much sparkle as I could procure from my tattered self. It worked. Now I have to rediscover the magic (and locate my jar of sparkles) before it is waaaaaaay too late. Time is of the essence. Life is of the essence.

The journey continues. My journey. Unconventional in a traditional from the outside sort of way. Yet off the road more often travelled. An Aquarian, I adore change and seek it out (much to my surprise, often to my detriment). The planet has opened up to me and I want to immerse myself more fully in the grit and the glamour in a roll up my shirt sleeves, get some dirt under my finger nails sort of way. Not as a gardener per se. But in the developing world, the frontier economies. But (and this is a very big BUT and not easy to admit to my independent self ) this time with a cherished friend sharing life, love and whatever is right around that corner or down that cobblestoned street or under those lovely arching plene trees along the country road.

Here begins anew my next adventure ... meeting 2010 head-on with the precise goal of meeting the big 6-0 as my best self once again. To 2010! Cheers until tomorrow ...