Happy New Year To All

For the past 2 weeks, I have been soaking up every minute of the happiness that is a result of being home for the holidays.  I drove the 1,992 miles from my home to my parents home, accompanied by my dog and my spinning wheel.  It has been such a delightful visit and I have been able to truly relax and recuperate.  The latter part of 2010 has been a difficult and wrenching time for me in many ways, so I needed some recuperation.  I think that the coming year is going to be also difficult to begin with, but I have a strong belief that it is going to be a tremendous year of change.

I am calling 2011 the Year of the Fulfillment of the Dream.  As you travel along with my adventures this year, I believe it shall all become clear why 2011 has been given this auspicious title.

I wish all of you the best of health and comfort in 2011, but most of all I wish you happiness.  Without it, we are all just a shadow of the selves we could be.  Take time to do things you enjoy, things that make your heart sing, things that make the sun shine on a grey and dreary day.  Stop worrying.  (I need to work on that one!)  Worry does not help anything and can actually be counterproductive and cause you far more stress than is needed.  Be kind to others.  Be even kinder to animals.  (Lucky Nickel put that part in!)

Over the holiday, I visited Lawrencetown Beach in Nova Scotia, which is not that far from where my parents live.  It's a lovely beach and somewhere I have often visited in the past.  It was 23 Fahrenheit (-2C) on the day I visited, but I was warm and comfortable.  Maybe it was because I was home.  Maybe it's because I'm just warm all the time.  Anyway, I even went paddling in the ocean.  You know you're a real Canadian when you go paddling in the Atlantic in December, and you enjoy it!

I breathed in the ocean air, faced the wind, and felt the energy of the waves and the wind fill my soul.

I also took time to sit on the rocks, and think about where I have been, where I am now, and where I am going.  It was very therapeutic.

I highly recommend that you all go paddling at least once this year.  

I head back to Iowa tomorrow, and am looking forward to giving Lucky Nickel a big hug when I get home.  No doubt she will have things to blog about when I return!