a new year
a fresh snow
birds
beneath the feeder
counting their blessings

What a year it has been! Probably one of the busiest years of my life-filled with both great sadness and also great joy. The year began with the loss of David's good friend, Don, succumbed to cancer. February and March were consumed with my father and his two falls, in and out of hospitals and rehabs, all the while my mom's health failing, and then her unexpected death in April. Next came great transition-moving my father into an assisted living facility and going through my parents belongings. So busy caring for my father, visiting him every day, doing his laundry and meds, and still planning a bridal shower and an August wedding for my daughter. This was followed by the birth of my first grandson in October and then the wedding of my other daughter!

What I have learned is that these great joys after my mom's death were my greatest blessing--they helped me to grieve and to heal in ways I never expected or thought possible, but I also learned to wholly cherish these experiences of joy. I always thought of grief as tears and aching. But grief is wrapped within beautiful moments as well-through smiles, and wedding kisses and the sparkling sea and my father's tears as my daughter says her vows or he holds his great grandson. Moments of great joy shared by grief. Beautiful. Remarkable.

And so I begin 2010 afraid of nothing-knowing that whatever the year brings, there lives most wonderfully joy and grief, one inside the other.

Peace and Goodness.