Welcome, 2009
may your coming year be filled
with magic
and dreams
and good madness.
i hope you read some fine books,
kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful,
and don't forget to make some art -
write or draw
or build or sing
or live as only you can.
and i hope somewhere in the next year,
you surprise yourself.
- neil gaiman
the year 2008 was so blessed for me.
i started the year as the chair of a department. i hated that 90% of the time, i had to work through piles of administrative work, attend meetings, write memos. but i also loved how the position opened up possibilities for so many positive things i could do. the rest of the month, i spent grooming my next in line, because after introspection i knew being chair was not for me.
in march, i mourned the loss of a friend - not by death, but by betrayal.
in may i went to hong kong, and studied with the best of asian students, and was mentored by two of the wisest people i have ever met. by the end of the six-week term these people had become my friends. i was fortunate to meet up with an old friend and his family, who went a long way to making me feel welcome in a strange place. and best of all, i met the Filipino women domestic helpers in hong kong, heard their stories, and changed my perspectives forever. i was also fortunate to introduce my family to this new country.
in business i had a great year. people loved my work, and said so. and that went a long way to easing some of the dissonance i had been feeling lately about the directions my life had been taking. i am greatly blessed to have not just coworkers surrounding me, but great friends too, who would think nothing of extending an extra hand (or any other limb) to help me.
i approached my classes the way i always had - with enthusiasm for the many minds that lay open before me, just waiting to be nudged. i learned to like some students, the way i always do, because they were good writers, or they were hard workers, or they made me laugh, or... i don't know, i just liked some because. and there were some students who rubbed me the wrong way, as some always do, but the wisdom that age had brought me has taught me to just shrug it off, and turn away.
i earned the gratitude of a coteacher and friend - i feel it is so unearned, but i treasure it anyway.
i watched my daughter enter a new school and make new friends. saw her becoming a more social person and becoming less of the person i know. in between us lies a mass of cellphones, computers, PSPs, telephone calls, iPods, TV shows, pop songs, teen magazines - and it is a gap that we bridge only at night, when we lie down and say our prayers together.
a tear fell as i saw my four year old son enter the doors of preschool for the first time. letting him go was the most difficult part so far, knowing it meant i was giving him away to a new world where he might find that i am - gasp! - inessential to him.
and my husband - wow. thirteen years together and still counting. honestly, sweetie, it just gets better every year. you are the biggest jewel in my treasure trove of blessings.
and so i end this year in complete disbelief. how can so many blessings come my way? what have i done to deserve all this love and friendship? and more importantly, have i done enough to spread it around to others?