a final look back on 2010...

I don't think I'm alone in having been more than happy to say goodbye to 2010.  Yes, the year-end is purely symbolic, but like anything, if it's believed strongly enough, it has merit.  So 2011 is a new page in a new journal and that's a very blatant metaphor for how I feel about it.

But rather than drone on about why I'm glad to see 2010 end ... I feel I spent enough time in THAT place at various times throughout the year ... I'd rather focus on some of what I am immensely grateful for that I experienced in 2010.  Yes, I am very much a glass-half-full kind of gal, and that can start the list because without that mentality embedded deeply within me, I would be curled up in a corner blathering 'ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba' to myself (KCQ: THANK YOU!).

I'm grateful for dogs, and I'm grateful to have experienced the love of a wonderful dog, and through her, the friendship and love of many, many others (dogs and humans) near and far.

I'm grateful for good clients who are also good friends who are also good mentors.

I'm grateful for being able make a bowl that others can enjoy and eat from, and more grateful to make a bowl that can help see that others eat (borrowed and paraphrased from DY).

I'm grateful to have the opportunity to express myself in my art, and grateful to soak up the music, words, and art of those in my life who have such strong and beautiful expressions that inspire me daily.

I'm grateful for good counsel from those far wiser.

I'm grateful that I was/am a part of a creative, generous and inspiring group of artists, and together we taught each other, learned from each other and found ways to spread our love for getting muddy.

I'm grateful for facebook ... yes, I said it ... because only through that have I re-connected with good friends, discovered new friends and cool things I may have otherwise missed, found daily inspiration, giggles and breath-taking awe from people around the world in seemingly small snippets that leave much larger impressions.

I'm grateful for that laugh you really only get when you're with really old friends (and I say this with love, yet being the youngest member of the Sisterhood of Travelling Candle Wax).  And I'm grateful for those old friends who just feel like home, no matter where they/we are or how often or seldom we connect.

I'm grateful for the close friendships I've made since I've been in Asheville, that feel like they run much deeper than the almost five years I've been here and have given me a sense of home (some in a more literal sense to be sure!).

I'm grateful for each and every person I've come in contact with, in person or over a wire or online.  No matter the impetus or the outcome, I learn more about myself in each interaction and with the sting of pain as much as the flutter of joy, it's that capacity to feel that makes one alive, and I'll opt for that over numbness any time.

I'm grateful for every person who's held me up and kept me going, and I'm grateful for every opportunity I've had to give even a small portion of it back to someone else.

I'm grateful for being able to joke with my mom that I couldn't possibly have anything new to tell her 'since yesterday'.

I'm grateful for friends with beach houses (what, not deep enough?).

I'm grateful for symbolism, for as the last quarter of the year began, I was feeling like I was losing my voice.  Or perhaps my direction ... or maybe my sense of where I was, not to mention where I was going.  And as the year end approached, I slowly felt a realignment of place within me, and almost literally with the chiming of midnight and the dropping of the ball, felt the low rumbles of a voice returning.