Happy New Year 2018

Hello 2018.

2017 has left me tired.

As I read 

social media,

watch programs,

look at book titles,

I see that I must not be alone.

It seems that a bulk of us

are craving slow.

Many of us are on overload.

We need to slow down.

To stop.

To see 

the people

in our own

homes.

To look people in the eye.

Especially those we love.

Instead of staring at another screen.

2017.

It feels like a world away from where I was

when I started this blog.

My children are in an entire new stage.

So am I.

So is the world.

Our nation...

Hard, hard things happened in 2017.

Things that brought me face-to-face with fear.

I made good decisions and I made some poor choices too.

I sure do not have the energy that I used to have

for doing everything just right.

So I don't.

Some times I just get by.

Some days are wing and a prayer kind of days.

Some of my 

favorite moments

in our Shaw family

lives happened in this

hard

awkward

strange

year:

I became an auntie to twins, a boy and a girl.

Our son turned 18 

to the tune of a mariachi band at Casa Bonita's in Denver.

My daughter experienced her first state track meet, 

breaking a school record with her relay team.

Our family just enjoyed being together

at a Colorado Rockies game and the Denver Aquarium.

I realized the depths of my husband's dedication to me 

as he cared for me after knee surgery in September.

I have lots swirling in my mind

about 2017.

But it all feels too vulnerable and tender to share.

So it must not be the time.

But I am ready

for a new year.

I am ready to

embrace imperfection

and give myself

grace

for a life

that is always

a work in progress.