With Family on New Year's Eve

No better place to be than with those I love most as one year passes into another.

'Twas a pretty traditional celebration for us this year. Well ... our appetizers are usually a degree fancier – and more plentiful. (O.k, the miniature pigs-in-a-blanket are standard fare.) And with three of the four of us sporting medical instructions to reduce our weight in 2010, perhaps having only two fat-laden delicacies was just right.

A New York City midnight toast using 8 oz. Coke bottles is traditional for our family too. Imagine our angst when we still hadn't located any just days before Christmas. We're grateful to friends who - via Facebook and after my failed attempt to get assistance through Coca Cola's Altanta headquarters - helped some arrive via special delivery. With a day to spare!

We always use the New York City Times Square Celebration to guide our evening's activities with a second toast occurring at midnight central time. However, we have to rely on our own countdown for that one.

Oh, a family game and a family movie are part of the package too. This year it was Beatles Rock Band (sorry, no video of that) and Wayne's World.
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As I said in my last blog/vlog: I can't remember beginning a new year with such a long list of unresolved issues: unemployment (me), new employment (me), health coverage (Stross), surgical plans (Stross), KZOW (Mark), Youth Gathering aftermath (our family) and more. Skye seems the only one who can boast a sense of balance right now, for his life truly seems uncomplicated. And as long as Mark and I responsibly work to resolve Stross' and our issues, both our sons will get to remain in an uncomplicated place.

But everything is connected isn't it? Even one issue resolved unsatisfactorily or left unresolved can throw off the others. So, the best strategy appears to be this: maintain an optimistic outlook while diligently giving the best of ourselves to the process of resolution.

Here's to a less complicated year in 2010 - for all of us.

Can you hear the little Coke bottles clinking?

Amen. May it indeed be so!

Hope Does Not Disappoint - New Year's Eve!

The end of a year invites retrospection, while the beginning of a new one brings introspection, doesn't it?

It's nearly impossible to avoid wondering what might happen in a new year: more good than bad, good tempered by unfathomable bad, or an even mix of life. (Note that I, even as an optimist, cannot bring myself to list an option of only good, believing it an impossibility.)

This year I hope for more highs than what occurred 2009 but to have the highs accented by appropriate times of stress - the kind of stress that helps you appreciate life's moments of bliss and motivates you to keep moving forward – because forward is the only acceptable direction to move, isn't it?

Now for a vlog warning: I couldn't resist capturing the raw emotion I feel today; I hope I don't regret sharing it with you.

I continue to believe there is value in sharing the perspective of someone living an altered existence: life as the parent of a child living with disabilities. It's not how I am defined (at least I sure hope not), but it's often the most dominant piece of my life's puzzle. I offer today's perspective as a token of solidarity (if you also live such an existence) or as a petition for understanding (if you've ever wondered what it might feel like). I don't think there's a middle position.

As for what you'll see on screen: My sentences are often incomplete. It's pretty much how my thoughts are these days. They are what they are, just as my life today is what it is.

Happy New Year! May you carry hope that does not disappoint into each day of your 2010.