New beginnings

2018: And That’s a Wrap…

As the final hours of this year unfold before you I hope you will take a moment to look back, with love, awe and with deep gratitude, for all the year has brought you. The good, the delightful, the bad, the terrifying, and the oh so THAT happened.

For every moment of joy, we thank you. For expanding our hearts and grounding us in time and space, because that’s what joy does. It feeds our fires. It reminds us what we’re fighting for. It is hope expressed through emotion. It is faith, whether we realize it in the moment or not. It propels us forward. It bubbles up in us like a baby’s giggle. It whispers in our ears. It pokes us in our back’s reminding us to breathe…and to smile.

For every moment of excruciating pain, we thank you. You taught us how strong we are. You showed us how much this whole thing matters. You sharpened our senses. You brought us to our knees, and that is always where the healing begins, in the darkness and despair. In the surrender. We thank you for reminding us who we are, and what we believe in. We are breathing. We are still here. We will not go quietly into the night. We will rise again. We will persevere.

For every moment of fear and doubt, we thank you. Faith (in anything) means nothing without the contrast of doubt and profound confusion. At every fork, at every turn, we thank you for the moments we chose faith, the moments we chose hope. The moments we chose to believe it’s all gonna be OK, no matter how bumpy the road gets, or how long it takes. And for all the moments we chose fear we thank you, because detours are mandatory. They remind us most beautifully who we are not and that it’s OK to turn around and start over… again, and again, and again.

For every moment of laughter we thank you. Laughter, as Anne Lamott so beautifully states, is “carbonated holiness.” I love that. Humor is about humility and perspective. It reminds us to stop taking ourselves, and life, too seriously. Laughter blasts through the darkest of nights. It has the power to shine a light in every dark scary corner and expose the silliness, the shared humanity of it all. Laughter is the most direct route to sanity.

For every moment of grief, we thank you. Because of you we know that we loved, and were loved, deeply. We are grateful for the scars on our hearts you left behind. We wear them proudly, as evidence of the love we shared. As proof of a spiritual connection with another. We celebrate you always.

For every moment of love we thank you. The smiles from total strangers. The shared experiences with those we hold dearest fill our souls. This is what we're here for. For every moment we were given the opportunity to be someone else’s light house, a beacon of love and strength, we thank you. For every moment we thought we might not be able to catch our breath from the pain of it all that created the space for someone who loves us to show up for us, we thank you. We are blown away by the magnitude of your power. You are bigger than anything. You are everything.

For every moment we failed, or fell, or had our hearts broken, we thank you. You gave us the the greatest of gifts. You helped clear the way. You swept away the noise and clarified what matters to us and why we keep getting back up. You grew us in ways too great to articulate. You were the best of teachers. You made us gentler, kinder human beings. You made us more compassionate and loving mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, partners and friends. We are humbler than we were a year ago. Some of us are a bit more banged up (and some of us have been truly trashed) than we were a year ago, but we oh so so so much stronger. And that is because of you and the myriad of experiences you knew we desperately needed to evolve. The joy, the pain, the laughter, the love, the doubt, the fear, the grief, the confusion…we needed each one exactly when they showed up. We thank you. With gratitude we bid you farewell.

Peace Out 2018 Xo, Beth