Final post for 2008.........................................

As 2008 draws to an end I feel like I have finally surrendered to it.

A week and a half before Christmas six out of seven of us got a bad, bad bug. This was two days after I decided to paint the living room, one week before our scheduled resident Christmas party. Of course the painting got thrown off course and wasn't finished (as planned) before (my) Mister had to take some time off for a hernia repair (I know. Why would anyone schedule voluntary surgery two weeks before Christmas? He has kept putting it off and I INSISTED that he do it before the end of the year since it takes us until June to meet our insurance deductible and I didn't want to have to pay out of pocket in January simply because he wouldn't make a few phone calls)

Of course, surgery went well (doc says he could run three weeks status post. I ask just in case since (my) Mister hasn't actually ran a step since the Marathon a year ago October... I believe in miracles), everyone was well for the party and had a great time singing along with my friends that came and played the guitar and banjo. Ya it was the week after the party that the living room was completely painted (the old me would have never stood for this. The new me was completely cool with it), but so what? Christmas day came and went without a hitch, the tree is packed away and my living room looks just like I pictured it (minus some art work I plan to commission to finish it off). Life is good.

What I discovered a-new the last few weeks was that the more I tried to control circumstances and plan things the more out of control and scattered I feel. If I focused on staying in the moment and letting things play out, life seems to unfold not only effortlessly, but just the way I wanted it to. Everything gets done, everyone is happy, and I get a surprise or two along the way. It really is easier to just go with the flow rather than fight to get upstream against the current.

So why is it, that even as I write that there is a part of me that knows I will be fighting a current of two come 2009? I know that my life is going the way it is suppose to. I know that all of my needs will be met and that I will also be blessed with much more than basis needs. I know that life lessons will present themselves and it is up to me to learn them now or wait to learn them the next time they show up. I know that learning them now would be best for my growth and yet I am under no pressure to do so.

Just to prove that point I have been coasting the last few days, hanging out, reading for pleasure, kicking back and relaxing. Things I normally don't do. It has been good for me, and everyone around me has seemed to survive it as well. Imagine that!

So in gratitude I say "So long 2008, you were good to me and for me," and "Welcome 2009. Can't wait to see what gifts and blessings you have in store for me." Bring it on...