In which the end is the beginning

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
~T.S. Eliot, “Little Gidding”

The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning. ~ Ivy Baker Priest

If the end can be the beginning then the beginning can also be the end, right? In which case, I’ll simply start in the middle.

If life had been kind enough to afford me the luxury of concurrent time and energy this past year, I would have written all sorts of blog posts about where we were and what we were doing. About Nik’s continuing health challenges. About really awful school experiences which, thankfully, turned into really fantastic school opportunities coinciding with the new school year and a new teacher. Of the constant struggle for balance between the demands of raising my child with his myriad needs and tending to a marriage, thankfully, built upon a rock solid foundation. Of the fight within my own self to find ways and time to better care for my own needs; to don my proverbial oxygen mask first.  I would have written of beginnings and endings…and cycles.

Instead, I will simply start where we are and not worry about looking back. I will, instead, look forward and inward, focusing on the potential and strive to share the journey with you.

I wish you a very happy new year. May 2012 be not an ending but a beginning. A blank page upon which we write our potential instead of recording our flaws.

And ye, who have met with Adversity’s blast,
And been bow’d to the earth by its fury;
To whom the Twelve Months, that have recently pass’d
Were as harsh as a prejudiced jury -
Still, fill to the Future! and join in our chime,
The regrets of remembrance to cozen,
And having obtained a New Trial of Time,
Shout in hopes of a kindlier dozen.
~ Thomas Hood

We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched.  Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives… not looking for flaws, but for potential.  ~ Ellen Goodman

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