Happy New Year

2017 had its lows, like any year, but I want to watch the highlight reel.  Some of the highlights are professional, but most?  Most of my highlights are moments.  Time with PEOPLE.  

• My friend group shrunk.  This is a GOOD thing and a function of finding and focusing on the best people in my life.  An unlikely handful of women at the gym forever stole my heart.  We carved out time for each other in spite of our busy lives making lunch dates and pedicures a ritual!  
• I became an LLC., created a will with my husband and laid a plan financial, with professional help, for our future. 
• I changed positions at the chain of gyms I work at, International Fitness. One of the byproducts of this change was  a successful launch of our gym's first Small Group training program!
• I was lead in a few PiYo rounds which is the pinnacle of my professional life in fitness!  Such a challenge and honor.  I found my confidence on set and learned that the secret all along was just to relax and be myself and stop trying to be perfect!  
• A loved one celebrated 3 years of sobriety on Christmas Eve.
• My eldest son and I visited my mom in Chicago.  We sat and sat at her koi pond -my favorite place in the world and took slow motion videos of frogs jumping on lily pads.  I cried when my step dad told me about how she supported his decision to go into full time ministry, without hesitation.  
• I went on my first wine tour with some girlfriends in Santa Ynez.  But first I had to learn how to spell that place.  We belly laughed until our muscles were sore and our eyes teared.  We did PiYo by the pool early mornings and stayed up late talking with makeup and bras off and eye glasses on.  I hope there will be a 2018 sequel.  A few guys crashed the party and that was fun.  They had a band.  They called themselves: Neato Burrito.  
• I went with my coaches to our annual convention in New Orleans after never having been!  We rented a large house but kept Fireball consumption to a minimum.  I ate alligator. And beignets.   I talked about hurricane Katrina to every Uber driver and my heart ached with a weird mix of sadness, pride and awe.  
• My husband and I went to Punta Cana in the DR for the first time, putting our second stamp in our passports in two years.  And, my only two.  I read "Love Warrior" by Glennon Doyle, on the beach.  My suitcase had sand in it for months.  I didn't clean it out on purpose.  
• We visited my 87 year old mother-in-law in Albuquerque and I tried hiding all my tattoos, only to find she adored every inch of them!
• I watched all 8 seasons of Dexter.   
• I started teaching and master training for a new format.
• I stayed in touch with two east coast friends- every single day- for the entire year, through a voice messaging app!  I talked and listened to them everyday on my drive to work.  
• I visited a family best friend (2 hour drive south) a dozen times.
• One of my coaches achieve Diamond level rank in her business.
• I decided (officially) to get a body suit tattoo.  I also got tattooed on Halloween day- which was awesome- because we all dressed up for the occasion, the whole shop!  So I can actually say I've been tattooed by a SHARK!
• I went to Vegas with my daughter and friends.  I decided I hate vegas.  But I loved the time with the people who came.  And I got better at false eyelash application.  But my high heel walking ability remains poor.
• I reconnected with a 3rd grade friend while in Los Angeles after 34 years of losing touch.  
• One son taught me to throw a frisbee and the other son how to throw a clay pot.   I'm not any good at either. but these are still highlights of 2017.
• My daughter graduated high school and started full time college and a part time job with a bang.
• Oh.... and we started a cockroach farm in my garage! (Reptile food ;) ) And by farm I mean rubbermaid tub. 

Those are my BEST moments of the year.  I feel older.  More settled.  More confident and proud of who I am.  There was some sadness mixed in between some of those bullet points.  Some was my own, some was what I felt for my friends who are suffering.  I look forward to 2018 and know it is ripe with lessons to be learned and challenges to overcome and beauty to behold.