Welcome to 2014!

So, here it is..............................2014.

What will you do with it?

What changes will ensue?

What joys, sorrows, disasters and triumphs await you?

We can't really know, right? We can make well-laid plans, set intentions, map out our goals for the coming year, even earnestly make those annoying new year's resolutions (which I strongly advise against), but in the end we can't really predict what the year will bring.

Just ask Jacquie about 2010, her boy stopped walking, remember that? WTF?! Completely unpredictable. And she and Ellie and the rest of the Corey clan lost Joe/Dad/Jidoo. Not at all planned. Or welcome. But true nonetheless.

Life is, basically, unpredictable.

It will change. It will change in ways you can't predict. It will change in wondrous and awful ways.

I read today's thedailylove email, as I do on most days, and it really brought this concept home for me. It asked its readers to:

Imagine yourself 10 years ago. 2004.
Where were you?
What were you doing?
Who were you with?
What were you going through?

 ...Look back over the last 10 years of your life. Make a list of the worst things that happened to you. Look at your fears. Your sadness. Your rock bottoms.

Then, realize that even though you went through ALL of THAT, you made it to today. Use this as evidence of how strong you are.... 

2004? Wow, that was many, many moons ago, seemingly two lifetimes ago for me. How could I ever have predicted then that I would be twice divorced with another child in 10 years?!? My daughter born in 2004 was to be my second and final child. That was the plan. That was the deal. A nice family of four, happily ever after. The end.

Are you laughing? Well, I am, as it is so NOT what happened. Not even close. And during the 10 years of getting from then to now, there was some profound sadness, there were some rock bottoms, myriad doubts and fears. But Mastin Kipp (founder of The Daily Love) is right.............all the struggles, all the pain, and I'll add, all the unexpected joy and love, and the support of family and friends, have led us to this very day.

I wish for all of us an extraordinary 2014, full of adventure, abundance, authenticity and unexpected blessings and wonder.

But even more than that, I hope we all know, deep down, that whatever experiences this year will bring, even if deep and dark and dreadful, we can navigate through them, and they will become the events that we look back on 10 years from today, in 2024, and say, holy shit, remember when...?

So bring it 2014, we're ready.

Thanks, Mary Elizabeth ;)