Well hello there, 2013. I expected your arrival and yet, here we are, eleven days into the new year and I’m only just now offering a proper greeting. If time’s passing over these past few weeks is any indication, you’ll be over just as quickly as you came. I’m not one for wishing days away though…perhaps we can settle on some sort of agreement–January speeds by, February passes through on its heels, and when March arrives, you slow things down just a bit. Sound ok?

A lot has already filled the contents of this first glimpse at 2013, and I’m just trying to keep up. Travels home to see family, an exciting new writing project, being on call for doula work, Henry’s first swimming lesson, a work trip for JMK, Christmas teardown, and the rearranging of our living room. Add in the daily routine and a very busy and energetic almost-two year old, and things around here are bustling. January always seems like a quiet month to me, but not so thus far. I know I’ll blink and it will be gone. Maybe this is what people have always meant when they advise that time goes faster as we age. I’m 30. Should I understand this concept yet?

At any rate, I’ve been remiss in paying tribute to 2012 in the shuffle–a year with as many ups and downs as I personally feel able to handle. There were high points, certainly, and some of the lowest points to date as well. I almost always feel a little twinkle of sadness as the New Year’s Eve countdown begins, but as we looked toward a fresh start (over games and popcorn and camaraderie with my sister, brother-in-law, and two sleeping(ish) kiddos in Chicago) this year, I wasn’t terribly sad to close the door. We’ve grown, changed, adjusted, loved, ached, taken pause, celebrated, hoped, ached a little more, tried to pick up our boot straps and move along…all in a year’s time. And a new year means even more fresh hope, a resetting of our systems, a new lease on what life might offer our little family. I can certainly toast to that!

So, here’s to you, fancy new year, with all of your bells and whistles (at least, I imagine you must have them. I’m a glass half full kind of girl, you know.) Here’s to turning new pages and finding great new reasons to celebrate. Here’s to anniversaries and memories and birthdays and (hopefully) little getaways that allow us to refresh with one another. And here’s to 2012 and the ways it stretched us and challenged and pushed back and bristled, even in and amongst some of the most beautiful moments we’ve shared as a family (1st birthdays, gatherings to honor Gramma, my niece’s sweet arrival this Summer). Eleven days in, I’m embracing the chance to wipe the slate clean and to move on in great anticipation for what God will do throughout 2013. It is always a marvelous wonder to be along for the ride!

cheers!

mm