MY FAVORITE THINGS

Some have said that this was a miserable year.  Certainly misery abounded in historic natural disasters—floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, droughts and hurricanes.  And misery walked alongside hope as Middle East countries revolted against oppressive rule.  Misery erupted in shopping malls, high-speed chases, and killing sprees of deranged gunmen.  We don’t have to look beyond our small circles to experience miseries of lost health, relationships and surety.

But my favorite things in 2011 somehow trump all that misery.  One benefit of blogging is the chance to look back.  “Come what may,” was the phrase I used at the end of 2010.  Now I know all the “what mays” that have come.  I chose to highlight a few of my favorite things:

- seeing the pleasure of a granddaughter as she gave us a made-from-nature, woodpecker ornament for the tree
- enjoying a rare week in the Colorado Mountains with nearly the whole family
- finding a new place to live for one family member
- watching the swan pair nest, raise their young and teach them to fly (their gain, our loss)
- sharing the beauty of wildflowers and tall grasses with eager school kids
- listening to creative word combinations from writers in our extraordinary GR Writer’s Group
- meeting this year’s classes of eager memoir writers
- hearing God’s Good News every Sunday and striving to live it during the week

Here’s to many beautiful “what mays” in the New Year!