I bid you adieu 2013 with gratitude and grace

Can you believe it is the end of 2013 already. The last day of the year. Wow. Time is definitely not waiting for anyone. It is going at its own pace and is asking us to appreciate it by showing us just how much it marches on whether we are on board or not. Whether we are ready to keep track of where we are at all times or not.

I look back at the year and reflect on all the blessings in my life. All I have to be grateful for. All the people I have to be grateful for. My wonderful husband moving in directions we did not anticipate but appreciating the journey with love and respect. My children growing before my eyes. Maturing. Blossoming each day into who they came here to be. Understanding there is a pull between them becoming adults while at the same time wanting to remain as children. Learning to let go when necessary and to hold on as well. Our family unit strong yet fragile at the same time but full of love.

I look back at the opportunities that have come my way and allowed me to be a better person just by understanding and accepting gratitude has a place in my life. The doors that have flung open for me without me asking. Without me seeking. The doors that have creaked open offering me a glimpse into what could be if so I so choose to take that path.

I think back over the year to the doors I have closed in my life and the doors that have been closed for me with gratitude as well. Because even though it is always upsetting when doors close, I know they are closed because they no longer serve me and it is time for me to move on to the next phase. I recognize some doors may not be permanently closed so I treat everything and everyone behind those doors with respect at a distance never knowing if they will open again. Accepting that for now they are closed and there is no need to try to find the key for them until the key wants and is to be found.

I look back over the year at the surprise deaths of people in my life and those who touched my life in some way and I understand how life in this physical body is short and is meant to be lived to the fullest. To truly be lived and not just to exist.

I think about some bold moves I have made. Stepping out of life’s mediocrity in some cases and taking a stand, sometimes with others and other times on my own, to help to make our home a better place. I think about all the naysayers who have tried to pull me down. Tried to label me as something that I am not and I let them and their comments go because I know those who label, those who judge, label and judge not me but themselves.

And most of all I look back on the year, at this milestone year for me where I reached 50 years of living and am now in my 51^st year with delight. I feel no different to the young girl who looked out across the ocean decades before and knew there was much more waiting out there for me than where I stood. There was much to be explored. Much living to be done. Many paths to be taken and many bridges to be crossed and I still feel that youth within me. That idealism mixed with realism, mixed with curiosity and maturity and know though I have lived on this Earth for now going on 51 years, there is still so much more living to be done. So much more to be explored. So much learning and teaching, teaching and learning. 

The journey is not done until it is done. So I am leaving myself open and receptive to the gifts, treasures and abundance of the Universe with gratitude and grace so that I may be infused with its love and light allowing me to continue on my journey with faith, hope, trust and abandon.

With gratitude to the year 2013 for living each moment, being in each moment as much as I can. What a year. What a moment. Namaste.