2009

Happy New Year! This time of year I'm always reminded of Anne Shirley's comment, "Tomorrow is a new day, with no mistakes in it." Here we stand at the opening of 2009, an entire year of flawless tomorrows all lined up and waiting for us. I don't know what 2009 will hold. I know of a few events that are expected but beyond that, only God knows. From down here it is a blank canvas as white and shadowless as the snow outside my window.

There's always talk of resolutions on this day, but I tend to shy away from that word. It's so steeped in disappointment and expectation that it seems doomed to fail. It's a shame really, because in addition to the idea of being resolved to do something, it also carries the idea of a solution, a problem resolved. I wonder if things would be different if we looked at it that way -- these are my solutions for 2009?

For me, rather than these weighty resolutions, I like to dream this time of year. What are my dreams for 2009, for myself, for my life, for the ones I love? There's far more scope in dreaming. One dream has already happened just last week -- Corrina sang. There was no guarantee of music in her life -- as far as I know the doctors don't know why some CO kids can hear it and others can't -- but she sang. And I thought of the jingle bells I bought her for her first Christmas, just weeks before we found out she was deaf. I remember crying when I realized that the bells would bring her no joy at all. There were just something shiny on a stick. But now. . . not only can she hear the bells, she can sing about them.

Another dream for 2009 is to start enjoying the SLR I bought myself last year. I am a little overwhelmed by it and a year of just staring at it hasn't helped much. There's a great quote from a knitting book I found a while back that says "Thing's I've learning from knitting: Projects get completed faster when you actually work on them, which is why the scarf I've been working on for two years has gotten no bigger, no matter how long I leave it in the basket." To this end I've signed up for a class run by one of the photography studios here in town. Whatever happens in 2009, perhaps I'll at least have better photos of it :)

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2009. What are your dreams for the year?