2016: The Next Chapter

And so the chapter entitled "2015" has drawn to a close, with marriages beginning and ending, babies being born and grandparents dying, with a few humbling lessons under my belt and more than a few bruises marring my heart. This wasn't a particularly bright or cheerful chapter of my life, and technically, things happened in that chapter that aren't yet completely wrapped up, but still. We can always go forward with renewed strength to clean up the messes that remain in our lives.  New Year's is always a great time for hope.

Hope. That's the thing that has kept me going--even during the darkest nights of this last month, I clung to hope and the belief that things will get better. It's the hope I have that allows me to be endure. Or perhaps it's the endurance that I have that allows me to hope?

Resilience. Resourcefulness. Strength. Hope. These are my guiding principles in the year ahead. These are going to be the key elements in this story. This is my narrative; I choose how to tell it; and who I allow to populate the pages, and when the story ends.

And it sure as hell ain't over yet.