Fresh start, please.

Because weather is so important to us Minnesotans, I will first note that we did get a fresh batch of white stuff to bring in the new year with!

And, Happy New Year to you all!
The kids and I brought the New Year in at a local motel- in the hot tub and pool, and for a first for this lady, I got to see the ball drop on TV.
We spent the night with Auntie Lolly and Shannon- great company, btw. Maybe it will be our newest tradition!

Part of me would like to sign off, and leave this post at that.

But as I look forward and back, it feels like I've taken so many steps forward in the past year, but the tail end of the year really hit me, and the net gain seems not so great right now.

That's how life is.

I struggled through the holidays with too many expectations of myself, and some rough waters to navigate. I felt like I was cutting myself slack, but still struggling.

It is really hard, even when you know that rough patches will always crop up, to find yourself back in those (mental/emotional) places you'd rather not visit again.

On the upside, I can tell my recovery from the meltdowns is quicker. I know that is a result of all the work I have been doing.

I have a lot to be thankful for. As I told my kids a few days before Christmas, they are my best gifts. Every day I smile at something they did or said. They give me lots of hugs and squeezes.
And they give me reason to keep slogging through, even when the going is so hard.

And so I move forward, with a clean calendar to fill.
I will set aside that old calendar, ragged with use, and look forward to the new year.