With hope that holds
Life is rich.
My husband Kurt Peters says that often.
He’s a sunny-side-of-the-street kind of guy, the Tigger to my Kanga (or Piglet or Eeyore, at times).
But I can’t think of an expression that for me sums up 2018 any better.
I travelled a lot and, oh, the places I’ve been: San Diego and the beautiful Rancho Valencia. Rome and Florence. Sarasota. Lewes. Durham. Kauai. Charleville and Brussels. Kiawah. And Blacksburg, a few times.
I spent some time on important things with special people. Opened the year with family watching with pride as my brother became a Superior Court judge. Walked again in the Women’s March, this time close to home. Saw Springsteen on Broadway. Said goodbye to our pup Wojo after 15 years of sloppy love. With an outpouring of support and prayers from family and friends, pushed through Kurt’s scary cancer diagnosis, ending the year with the best possible news. Watched with joy as my oldest proposed to the love of his life. Celebrated a birthday before the next big one with a surprise family reunion. Helped all the kids move and settle into new and better places and watched as they blazed their own trails. Reconnected and recharged with some old friends and made some new ones. Read some great books — 26 actually, as this year I made a list, only to be surpassed by my husband who read 36 — and tried with not much success to get myself back up on the writing horse.
And whether by choice or not, recalled some important life lessons. Family love is a precious gift. Tomorrow is never guaranteed. Prayers and faith really do carry you through. The world is still a beautiful place filled with interesting and caring people.
So thank you 2018 for all that abundance.
Last year my sister passed along a prayer for the new year, one that I returned to often — especially these words, which had particular resonance in 2018:
“Stop us often, we pray, with news that is good, with hope that holds, with truth that transforms with a word tailored to this trail we’re on.” (The full prayer, written by Glenn Mitchell and posted on MINemergent’s Daily Communique, can be seen in the gallery below.)
Here’s to 2019.
More reading. More writing.
More peace. More compassion. More kindness. More acceptance. More beauty.
More love.
More life.
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