Liminality
I’ve enjoyed reading the annual crop of New Year blog posts — some triumphant reviews of projects accomplished and milestones passed, others contemplative reflections or statements of resolution for the new year and the new decade. And yet I’ve been reluctant to poise my fingers above the keyboard and begin my own. The last weeks have been all hunkering down and wintering in, reconnecting with loved ones, warming ourselves around the little fire of our hopes for 2010.
At my house, we gladly bade 2009 good riddance. While it didn’t contain major tragedy for our little family, it was a year riddled with disappointments, frustrations, and road blocks. It brought us good things, notably the birth of our nephew, but many parts we just had to grind through and endure. We had to revise our expectations, defer some dreams, jury-rig and improvise here and there. Toil didn’t always pay off. Lights appeared on the horizon, then winked out. Spirits were sometimes low, and communication was sometimes poor.
Prising ourselves out of the teeth of such a year to blink in the light of a new one, resolutions seem laughable. We see promise and peril, currents that could sweep us to joy or to grief, tests of courage and faith. We don’t expect a smooth voyage, but if fair weather comes it will be very fair indeed. If it doesn’t, we’ll make everything fast and sail on. Maybe just a few points on which to be resolute, then: To trust my partner and to offer him kindness and support, every day. To take pleasure in the work of my hands and brain. To stay open. Kick me if you catch me breaking any of those, but leave me to the pursuit of wool and cream and chocolate and the avoidance of strenuous exercise, should I choose them.
Onward.
Posted: January 6th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
You have hit it on the head. Whatever we *may* do in the year ahead, we *must* keep moving onward.
Posted: January 6th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
excellent new year’s resolutions. Here’s to a happy and yarn-filled 2010!
Posted: January 6th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
Now that sounds like a productive and creative way to start the new year. To quote EZ, “Knit on with confidence and hope, through all crises.”
Posted: January 7th, 2010 at 12:12 am
I read so many New Years blog entries and Old Year reviews, but yours was so deep, true, touching and so full of love, that it makes me cry… All the best for you and your loved ones!
Posted: January 7th, 2010 at 3:42 am
Sounds like you’re off to a good start. Can’t wait to see what knitting brings you.
Posted: January 7th, 2010 at 8:09 am
Even a good year is somehow harrowing, and for some reason it is just so easy to remember the disappointments and problems. I’m just hoping to live more with the happiness and less with the anger and frustration. It’s a choice not to dwell on the bad things to the exclusion of being happy.
Posted: January 7th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
I know so many people (including myself) for whom 2009 was very challenging. I’m kind of in the same boat as you – there were good things and bad, but overall I’m just as happy to be leaving it behind, and I’m inspired not so much to resolutions as to a tentative hope for a less tumultuous 2010. Best wishes to you and yours in the new year. 🙂
Posted: January 9th, 2010 at 9:50 pm
OMG! So WELL put. Onward, indeed!