In a short time we’ll be saying goodbye to 2010. Some areas of the world have already done so. It’s a year that still doesn’t make a lot of sense in my head (both personally and professionally), and I’m sure I’ll settle on what it’s meant to me some day. But I will say I’m happy to move forward.
Personally, at the end of December, I nearly lost my third grandparent in as many years, but she’s in the hospital fighting off the dying light as I type. I also wrapped up the first year of what will be a very long engagement for my fiancee and me. It’s been a journey of learning and love so far.
Professionally, In Contention is more successful than ever, and I know full well who I owe for that: you, the readers, and my scrappy team of contributors. After kicking the tires last year on what will hopefully come next, I made healthy strides toward those ends in 2010 and hope to inch closer to the dream in 2011. But for now, this is my place and I’m happy to see us forging ahead, strong as ever.
The New Year is supposed to be about new beginnings. Most use the natural shift as an impetus toward needed change, but if I were to settle on one “resolution,” it would be to drum up the courage to trigger that shift whenever and wherever it’s needed, not just at the turn of a year. There are more, and they are mine, but that will be my overriding theme. I hope.
I’ll be in a plane, somewhere above Arizona, when the sun goes down on 2010 for me. To you, I give thanks for what you offer this space on a daily (hourly, minutely) basis. And I wish the best to you and yours as you bid farewell to 2010. I hope it treated you well. And whether it did or didn’t, I hope 2011 treats you better than any 12-month span you’ve lived.
Happy New Year. Let’s drink a cup for auld lang syne.
[Photo: Kristopher Tapley]