May It Be Your Best Year Yet

I am standing at my kitchen counter as I write this, since there is no furniture in this new house we have bought in anticipation of a new life and new adventure.  It is New Years Eve and we already know we won't make it to the midnight hour to wish each other a Happy New Year.

We don't have to;  we know it will be.   We survived the trip, and we have survived each other.

There is no bed; we sleep on a mattress on the floor.

There is no kitchen table; we sit on lawn chairs in an equally empty living room, paper plates balanced on our laps as we toast to each other to making new memories.

Those things will come soon enough, the table, the tv sets, the couches and the lamps.  But for now, we have each other; and thats all we really need.

A new era has begun.  The Stories From the Lake are now fond memories until we return to begin new ones.

Our little trek across America has given seed to many thoughts and stories, many of which are already beginning to blossom.

I wish you all the best in the coming year, and to welcome every dissapointment and failure with an open heart, not with sadness or bitterness.   It fills in the spaces of who you are and molds you into what you can be.   Never turn down a chance to do or be something else.

Happy New Year.  May it be your best one yet.