It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...er, rather, 2009!

Ok, ok, so, Michigan definitely LOOKS like Christmas...and keeps looking more like it with every storm! My Dad flew in this year, so our entire family was together for the first time in 4 years - and the "Plus 1" of a new, delicious nephew.

2008 and was a crazy year for me. In short, in attempting to figure out what my "next step" should be, I left NYC hoping to find that ever-elusive thing called "clarity." What happened? Well, I'm more muddled than ever...but thoroughly enjoying hanging out with the family and teaching my nephew how to be a pirate. I'm determined to be Cool Aunt H. Although my timing couldn't have been much worse to return to Michigan - a financial collapse, the Big 3 taking a nosedive, and the holidays all coinciding, thankfully, the transition into a new year is bringing up some interesting opportunities. And, yes, I think I might be sticking around the good ol' A-Deuce for a while.

"His mother had often said, When you choose an action, you choose the consequences of that action. She had emphasized the corollary of this axiom even more vehemently: when you desired a consequence you had damned well better take the action that would create it." - Lois McMaster Bujold, "Memory", 1996

What I don't have for y'all this time around are words of profundity. Or life experiences that could shake, rattle, and roll. Life is quiet. And THAT is unusual for me...taking some patience and acceptance, fo shizzle. I've never been good at 'quiet.' I'm sure that I'll look back on this mini-chapter and wish I'd appreciated the quiet more. I'm just too used to being a "do-er" and am therefore frustrated...and taking it out on my poor body! (Don't ask me about working out, running, or yoga - I'll bore you to tears!)

"You must pray that the way be long, full of adventures and experiences." - Constantine Peter Cavafy

If there was ONE thing that I had to pick out of 2008 that was the best thing ever, wanna know what I'd choose? The people I found, those that found me, and my existing friendships that deepened amazingly. I've long been grateful for the wonderful people in my life, but 2008 kicked 'grateful' up a notch - or seven! I met some of the most life-changing friends in 2008...and reconnected with more! (Gotta love "social networking"!)

"There are people whom one loves immediately and forever. Even to know they are alive in the world with one is quite enough." - Nancy Spain (NOTE: these are the kinds of friends I have!)

But, really, I think I might be making life more complicated for myself than it needs to be. One of my goals for 2009 is to go back to Dr. Seuss: "Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple."

I wish for all of us a year of change, welcoming that change, prosperity, and love! May your year be as quiet or noisy, yet full as you desire...

An eternally grateful + 7 notches,
Hannah

PS Yes, you are, as my momma says, THE BEST!