It's become such a precious tradition. The emails or texts between the three of us start a little before Christmas, trying to nail down a date and time.
Even though we see each other during the year, this is a beautiful way to catch up, share our hearts, and get ready to face a new year as a three-fold cord. Some of the years have been all fun. Some years, like last, are somber as we cling to each other, mourning recent loss.
Yet, beyond the joy of celebrating our "us-ness" and giving and receiving Christmas and birthday gifts, the time that has become most special is when we pray for each other. A few years ago we started a new thing, by each picking a word that we wanted the others to pray for, in regards to our coming year.
I remember the year that I asked, with tears streaming down my face, for them to pray that my joy would be restored. I had been beaten down so severely by events of the previous year, I didn't think that I would ever be the bubbly, happy Lindsay again. And I was desperate for joy.
And last year, the word I chose was "soar." I had put in so many years of school, and so many years at United, and I was ready for a change - I was ready to see my hard work pay off, and I was ready to FLY.
As I look back at 2011, the answer to those prayers are so evident, I can't help but throw my hands up in joy & gratitude!
During the first few months of the beginning of the year, as I dragged myself to the finish line of school... hours of classes, practicum, homework, and paperwork, I had no hope that our prayers had even been heard, much less were they ever going to be answered. I was exhausted, and felt like my life was the exact opposite of soaring.
And then in the Spring, I put an end to a four year relationship that had brought much harm to my emotional & spiritual well-being. My wings stretched a little.
In the course of six ridiculously packed months, I graduated, studied for and passed my national boards, got licensed to practice massage, started a new job at a spa, left United after nine years, started my own business, and began living my dream. My wings expanded and I began an exillerating free fall.
People would ask me how I was doing, and I would say, "I'm not making any money, but I'm the happiest that I've ever been!"
One of my friends said one time "What if someone asked you on a scale of 1-5, how much you felt like you were really living your life? You answered a five, because you felt that you were totally squeezing every drop out of life that you can, and then they say, 'The scale is actually 1-10. There is still So Much Life to live.'"
My trip to Costa Rica was the scale of my life expanding to a 10...
No longer in a free fall, I was soaring with the best of them.
My phoenix rose from the ashes in 2011!
3 comments:
This makes me grin, and even want to do a little fist-pumping. :O)
I'm looking forward to your 2012. :)
I love, love, love this.
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