The End of the Year

2008

I can't really remember how this year began, except that we knew it was the year that our second grandchild would be born. Carson Salvatore is now 6 months old and his personality and presence in the family, and in my heart, is strong and solid. One of each---Clara and Carson---I couldn't feel more blessed or happier. This kind of love is different from any I have ever known....a wondrous thing, and that's about all the words I can find to describe it.

We also added some acreage to 'The Farm' up north.....some of which we have yet to traverse due to its wild and primitive nature. This place has truly become our sanctuary, our place to dream, work, rest, reflect, explore, and wonder at. We have learned to respect its unexpectedness-----the sudden presence of a bald eagle, or little black bear cubs.....or the drumming and thrumming of a protective grouse.....the Lady's Slipper peeking out underneath the fern fronds.....the beehive that comes alive as I rake and clear five years' worth of oak leaves under a spruce tree......the young doe who prances along beside me as I quietly and slowly steer the ATV along the two-track. It never ends, the startling and happy surprises up there, and we have come to thrive on them......

I took a Watercolor class this year and simultaneously began learning to sketch. I LOVE this and sometimes my hands actually feel like they're itching to pull out my #6B sketch pencil or my tackle box full of watercolor tools and put something down on paper. I can get giddy just thinking about it. I hope to take another class in Spring 2009.

Speaking of which, what do I hope and pray for this coming year, 2009? On a 'global' scale, I am looking forward to our new President, Barack Obama, and for the positive energy that I feel he can inject into this scared, sad country. Personally, I hope to continue my own spiritual journey that has come to bring me more peace of mind, less fear and anxiety, as I watch my children grow into and struggle with adulthood. I have spent some difficult years feeling my way into new territory as a mom---as someone told me, being the parent of adult children is probably the most difficult job there is as a parent. For me, it's been a perilous journey of learning to let them go.........Letting Them Go......while still being a part of each other's lives----that is hard.

They are on their journeys, and I am on mine.........