happy (goo) year

I’m back.

Thanks to those of you who missed my blog and asked if I was ok. I am. Better than ok.

My Christmas was amazingly wonderful. As full of magic and family and home time as I had hoped.

However, the New Year came in not with a bang but with a sniffle. Nothing life-threatening, just the hacking sneezing coughing achy sore throat junk everyone else I know has been dealing with that I had hoped to avoid.

Between the busyness of an amazingly wonderful holiday, traveling, keeping up with my real job, and hacking through the winter nasties, my time and energy have been at a premium. And that was enough to put me on writing hiatus.

You’d think lying a-bed like Camille (minus the TB) would have given me a lot of time to postulate and blog and journal.

You’d be wrong.

I can’t think or write well when I can’t breathe (figuratively and literally).

Sigh, maybe that means I’m not a hard-core writer.

Maybe it means I’m a slacker.

Or maybe it means I gave myself permission to simplify. Maybe we all need permission to simplify once in a while.

That’s definitely a change for me.

Last year was a year of changes. Some were subtle: A new brand of makeup. Sugaring instead of shaving. A pay increase that mostly went to Uncle Sam.

Some changes were much bigger.

Hubby and I went to the Eastern Caribbean. Alone. As in, sans daughter. We had an excellent time on our own. Ditto for Babygirl and Grandmother back at home. It’s amazing how well a 10 year old can help an adult navigate city streets. I’m glad to know she is paying attention when I drive. (I think.....)
Said daughter grew several inches in height. She is now 5'2". At 10. Her feet grew proportionately. We now wear the same size shoe. When my shoes go missing now, I don’t blame just the dog.
I lost a potentially lucrative freelance writing contract. Boo! (But I still have a great day job. Yay!)
My husband changed jobs. It’s not easy leaving something you’ve built from scratch, but he’s always looking for a challenge. Which would explain why he married me. I try not to disappoint.
Our extended family mourned the death of a matriarch. Hard stuff, that. But celebrating the life of an amazing woman helped bring her family even closer. She would have liked that.
We welcomed a new grandson into the family. J.J. is a complete delight. When asked what I wanted my grandmotherly moniker to be, I settled on “CeCe”. We’ll see if he bites or not.
I attended my very first (non-technical) writer’s seminar, where I met and was mentored by some amazing writers like Mary Alice Monroe, Josephine Humphreys, Debra Moffitt, Stephanie Hunt and Susan Laughter Meyers. And I’m lucky enough to live in the same community with these talented people.
I joined a great local writing group. At the first meeting, a new peer suggested my voice might fit skirt! magazine.
I started blogging for skirt! magazine online. I guess she was right. (Thanks, Lynne!)
I visited New Orleans for the first time for my daughter’s first regional Irish Dance competition. That’s two firsts right there. We had some fun but not a lot of time for sightseeing. Hopefully one day I can go back and see more than the Mississippi River and the ballrooms at the Marriott.
We celebrated Christmas with my brother’s family on Christmas Eve. This may not seem like a big deal, but we have NEVER celebrated as a family on Christmas Eve. This year, for important reasons, we had to. And you know what? It was amazing. Rather than having 50 people rushing in and out of the farm all day on Christmas, my brother, my sister-in-law and almost all their children spent many precious hours at my mom’s house eating, playing music, opening presents, laughing, talking, and just enjoying each other. That was the magic I had hoped for.