Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Can life get better in 2009?

So, here's the second grouping of my new year thoughts...

2008 wasn't too shabby! I say that as an understatement and without irony. 2008 really was pretty good. It's not that often we look backwards to make an assessment. That, and I think it's easier to see other people's progress than acknowledge our own, so be warned, this post is all about the ego-stroke... Me -  awesome. The kid - rocks like a wild woman.

Me 2008

Two biggies here - first, what was initiated in 2007 through a visit to The Bridge was more fully realized in 2008. I can't, in all honesty, say that pain is not and never will be a part of my life again, but I can, again in all honesty, say that it is no longer a predominate aspect of my ongoing experience. I am no longer existing in a world of hurt but living my life on terms of my own choosing. My head is clear and my body free. I cannot convey what this means. If you have not existed in a world ruled by chronic pain it is beyond comprehension - and if you are in existing in a state dictated by chronic pain you are also incapable of truly comprehending what it is to be free... you may think you know but the effects of pain - the mental and emotional way more than the physical - so fully permeate life that the little insight and thoughts and desires for a life with pain in manageable role, the desire for normalcy, the idea of a pain-free existence, the thoughts you may have can't fully comprehend what it is to feel free... to be yourself again... because you have to discover who you are all over again. You get to start anew. Who you are isn't who you were, but can be so much more.

The second, obviously, I moved. I tried to take advantage of my life's opportunities, the chance to live again, and fully live. On the other side of the world. And it's going well. Really well. I am in a beautiful, exciting part of the world and living a life full of potential - both realized potential, and potential still in existence - the opportunity to create and discover so much more.

So, what 2008 represents to me is a lot of personal accomplishment. Not the kind measured by societal standards, but the kind that matters.

The kid 2008

If you've seen my kid recently then any words I may have are insufficient to describe her. If you haven't seen her (or met her) well, your life is lacking for it. She seriously rocks. And rolls. She doesn't iron though. In all honesty, this has been a year of continued growth and recovery for her... the concussion stuff is pretty much in the past and her overseas invasion has helped her to become this awesome, aware, international intellectual, and insanely cool creature. Creature being a term of endearment of the highest order. She not just a teen, and girl is so diminutive for who she is, and I doubt she'd appreciate the term young woman or young lady in the sense in which I would offer it, so creature shall suffice. For now. She's awesome.

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