the year of

One of my inner circle peeps and I 

have a long standing tradition of naming each year.

It all started when I was living in Toronto 

and opted to spend Christmas there one year instead of flying back to Vancouver.

He and I went over to a close friend's house for dinner 

the food rocked my socks off

and Twaine did a rendition of "You're a Mean One Mister Grinch"

during our post-dinner caroling  

(because that's just what musical theatre people do when they get together 

and one of them just happens to play the piano)

that still brings a smile to my face.

Amidst all of our merriment and after one too many glasses of wine

 our host got deep for a second and said

"So 2007 is supposed to be the year of Momentum"

which led to one of those conversations that spilled over days between Twaine and I

and thus began our tradition.

Momentum

Enlightenment

Creation

Gratitude

Love

Expansion

which brings me to 2013...

over my funkish holidays

I realized I needed to name this year for myself

and give it some direction.

Not going to lie

it was a tough one to come up with

my ability to think was just so hampered by my worries 

but very quietly, so quietly I barely noticed it, the word

upliftment

came to mind and stuck itself on the wall of my brain

waiting for me to peel off the little sticky note that it had scratched itself onto 

and read what I'd written there when I was ready.

Today I'm ready.

Today is the first day I feel like me again

and I attribute that to 2 things:

1.  My mom giving me some firm love in the wee hours last night that shook me out of my blues

2. My time at work today that was spent holding the hand of a man that has grown very dear to me 

as he lingers in the final hours of this life.

Its all about perspective people.

Living in the moment and letting go of what I have no control over

I've been chanting it to myself all day

and hope it sticks

because it sure feels nice to smile and actually mean it again

Upliftment

I'm chewing on it now

deciding what flavour I want it to give my year.

I'll let you know when I've sorted it out.

This one's for you Twaine

Know that your radiant spirit still sings with mine my friend

even when the distance between us is so great.