The Good in 2009
- By: rebekah
- On: 01/04/2010 08:32:47
- In: Rumor Has It ...
- Comments: 31
Twenty-Ten is here! A new year has dawned. A new year to work out and work on our dreams. A new year of possibilities. A new year of learning and growing. A year to do better. Yes, this is the year that I’ll finally------hmmmm------what?
How about you, this is the year that you’ll finally------hmmm------what?
Ah, wait.
Before we get too far thinking about our dreams and hopes for 2010, let’s reflect on 2009. The last couple of weeks I’ve been talking to people I know and people I don’t know, asking them all:
“What was the best thing that happened to you in 2009?”
I’m asking you that question. The one I’ve been posing to folks all around me:
What is the best thing that happened to you in 2009? Leave a comment and share it with us.
Strudel-Noodle? Well, she says: It was ALL good.
'Cause, she's like that. She enjoys life no matta what. She's raring to go no matta what. It's all good.
But that's a dog's life.
So far, unless there is a clear and bright event in someone’s life, like the birth of a child or grandchild, the answers I have heard are mostly non-answers. I’ve gotten a lot of hesitations and shrugs and what we call in the south, “hemming and hawing around.”
The main theme seems to be “Good Riddance, 2009.”
Poor 2009. Was it that bad?
It was? Sure, there was a lot of “unbest” in 2009, a lot of difficulty and hard times for many. Changes that accompanied financial hardships and worries. Disappointments for some. Loss of jobs. And houses. Illnesses. Nevertheless, in spite of all that, surely there has been good somewhere is everyone’s life. If we can step over the bad stuff, we always find there is some good stuff there too.
I found that when I asked people the 2009 question, they searched for a big, monumental answer. That’s not really what I’m talking about here, though if you have a “big” answer, tell us about that too. I’m just talking about something good; it didn't have to be life-changing or the best thing that ever happened in your whole, entire, lovely life.
I think it was my choice of the word “best.” So I changed it and instead of asking “the best thing that happened in 2009,” I ask “What is something good that happened to you in 2009?” That received much better responses.
And here's what's weird. I can’t believe my own answer. The thing that turned out to be a good thing, maybe even the BEST thing is something that seemed like a nightmare at the time, a step-back, a failure. If you had asked me in June, I would have characterized it as one of the worst things that happened to me in 2009.
My Grandma had a saying that rings true here: “Sometimes it’s hard to tell your good luck from your bad.”
Here’s the background. If you were here with me, you already know it because I surely lamented about this for months. We had built our dream house in a wildlife sanctuary and moved way out of the city in the Fall of 2007. Then, the real estate market flopped and the recession hit. Our city house did not sell. And as it turns out, life in the wildlife sanctuary didn’t turn out to be quite the way we had dreamed it would. So after two years of trying to make it work, we finally decided to move back. To the very house we left. To the house we hated. To the house that sat empty and on the market for two years.To the area so overcome with traffic and development that it drove us nuts.
But now that we’re back?
It has turned out to be great. I am thrilled with the school my daughter attends. We have more space to do the things we enjoy doing. I’ve been able to garden again. Before I unpacked boxes, I threw some radish seeds out and with zero effort I got these:
No, I don’t love the house. I didn’t love it before and I don’t love it now. But. It is a beautiful house. I don’t have to love it, do I? I’m resolved to be happy with it for now. Happy each and every day.
“A person will be just about as happy as they make up their mind to be,” Honest Abe said. And I believe it.
Crap happens to all of us. It’s how we handle it that makes the difference. We can focus on the bad and “wallow” in it. Or, we can plow through it and move to the other side. Either way is messy. Both ways are stinky. But the bad stuff is there, isn’t it? And we have to deal with it. I think it’s how we move through it is what makes the difference.
(Just ask Strudel. She knows exactly how to get through it.)
Now it is your turn! Tell us something good that happened in your 2009.
Until next time, Friends, savor the flavor of life!
Lots of love, The City Farmgirl, Rebekah
Lots of love, The City Farmgirl, Rebekah
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Comments
1. Birth of grandchild number 4 in February. He lives in Seattle, but I've been able to see him three times already! Oh, and he's just started walking!
2. My youngest daughter got married. Lots of excitement!
3. Birth of grandchild number 5 in June. I got to be the doula for my daughter and son-in-law! Helping my daughter have a drug-free childbirth was a dream come true. They live in San Diego, but I've seen that baby three times, too. He's crawling, now!
4. My yet-to-be published novel, "The Time Travel Journals: Shipbuilder", placed in the top 100 in Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award contest. That's out of 10,000 entries! That was really exciting, but you'll hear me scream from the rooftops if I ever find an agent and publisher!
The other seems an unlikely good thing. But in July I got sick. Diagnosed with a life changing chronic disease that I ranted and raved against. Fought against admitting the reality of. Put on my "poor me" shawl and hugged it tightly to myself until I realized I did not like what I was becoming.
So I decided instead to open my eyes to many things and to new dreams.
I started writing every day then with intent, both on my blog which is primarily humor and privately.
I learned that I can change. I can quit controlling things. I can let people help me. I can become the gracious acceptor of kindness instead of always being the gracious offerer of comfort.
I learned that my husband is amazing.
And I gathered the people who I loved with my heart closer.
And I let the people who I felt I should love and didn't go farther away.
2009 was a re-birth for me.
And 2010 is going to be amazing.
*Our son and daughter both found good jobs.
*Our granddaughter, who lives with us and is in the 8th grade, made straight As.
*And I won a Bernina 820 and $500 worth of Superior Thread from TheQuiltShow.com in a random drawing from 50,000 members on December 18th!
On the sad side, my mom passed away on August 1, 2009.
I'm looking for 2010 to be a good year for all of us.
Gorgeous post and wonderful radishes.
I am so grateful we made it through the last DECADE I have no issue with 2009!
And, wonder of wonders, Mary Jane asked me to write for the monthly Cluck. I am still thrilled!
Brenda (aka Blondie)
I wanted to farm here with a couple of cohorts, one a farmer and another a supportive of farmer types kind of person. We find our grand new fields to be wintertime marshes and the little house that was to be our farm stand is a moldy mess. We saw it in summer and it seemed good to rent here. NOT.
So my main love in life is art, and I will be setting up a place to make art until we can bird-dog around and find a farmable place around here in western Washington State. Yes, one can do great farming here-- and Territorial Seeds is one resource worth its weight in gold for the Pacific Northwest.
We need to make money. So we'll be banding together to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
Susan
Thanks for all the smiles (and tears)! Isn't life grand!
(I love growing older, consider the alternative)
The next thing was that Kristy (my daughter from above) and I worked on our front yard garden. We aren't very good gardeners but we keep pushing along. It was beautiful. We had pansies, Zinnias, Asters, Roses, Tomatoes, Peppers, Scallions, and we tried our had at Corn. We mixed our produce and flowers. Then in August I had Tea in my garden. Evening Tea on a hot summers day. It was beautiful and special as I was spending it with my close friends who help me through Chemo.
That is what made 2009 special. I try to find the good in all things. So this will be a good year.
I'm one of the ones who is glad it is over. It was a hard one for our family. I'm looking forward to a fresh new beginning. But if forced to find some good, I'll say that I learned to slow down some and enjoy the moments. I made time each day to give thanks.
1. My best friend Trisha and I took a great 3-week vacation to the west. We flew from Western Massachusetts to Jackson Hole, rented a car and DID Western Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Banff & Jasper, Waterton/Glacier & Yellowstone/Tetons! The highlight was staying two nights at MaryJane's Farm! We had a blast. I surprised Trisha by not telling her it was tenting (she's not a camper) and she was so totally charmed that she had my brother build her a screened in Platform house in the back yard. She decorated it all up cute like Mary Jane's!
2. I took a class in blogging. It's opened up a whole new world to me, a world of like-minded artists and people who are interested in what I have to say. And I didn't know I had so much to say! I love sharing my photos and my art projects.
Keep up the great farmgirl blog-We Easterners need more farmgirl spirit!
One of the best things to happen to me was the birth of my grandson, John in Jan. 2009. He is a big, happy boy, but had difficulty with sleep apnea which caused his heart to stop off and on during the nights for the first 8 months. He is better now, tho he also seemed to need to keep us at a distance all those months. I wondered if he was autistic, for awhile, as he would not let anyone but his momma cuddle him. But, the past few weeks he has started becoming very cuddly...and even reaches out to hug and kiss us! That is the best part of life, ever! He is our 5th grandchild, and they all give us so much to be thankful for! We have had some setbacks, with my son (John's daddy) having lost his job in November, too. But he is starting his own videography business, which I hope will be sucessful during 2010. We all agree that we have to keep moving forward, and are doing what we can to help others do so too. I pray that the economy will start picking up, so those that lost jobs, & or homes, will be able to get back on their feet soon.
wishing you all only good things in the new year.....O'Dell
A hard year for us too. The good? We made it through. We are okay. Here's to 2010!
Love this question and your post! I'm embarrased to say that I too live in a house I have had a love-hate relationship with for 9 years. I have found it rather odd for this can- do gal who is Miss rose colored glasses most of the time and can usually see more good than bad. My husband said to me once " Life isn't going to be all slam dunks dear ",(isn't he cute?) probably during one of my rants about the cramped space, lack of storage and sunlight, no fireplace or garage. Anyway, I have pondered my discontent about this house quite a bit and I realized that it just doesn't fit my vision of my dream house with a barn, a few acres for privacy, peace and quiet, an art studio, glorious gardens etc. children running through a meadow of wild flowers... etc... Are you with me? Can you picture it too?
Like so many folks we have had to go with the flow during the highs and lows of the economy starting with a move from the west to the east 8 years ago during the height of an inflated houseing market. We both felt like we paid too much for a home that had less to offer than the one we left behind. We thought the second house was " supposed" to be better than the firt one. You know, the " move up house"? I think it was the first time we felt we had no control over a sitution and had to make the best of it. Accept it for what it was and move on as they say. We weren't in a position for "dream house" shopping when we purchased this home. We needed shelter and our money could only go so far.. We purchased what we could afford because we believe in living within our means. I home school our children, so one income must handle all of our needs, wants and wishes while keeping some tucked away for a rainy day.
It's been raining for a while now, harder on some than other's.
As I look back over the years, I realize that we have done so much more than make-do in this " hated little house ". We painted the outside of our little cape cod home bright yellow and aptly named it Dandelion House because the front yard is full of them in spring! The front door is painted a cheery apple red. We added a nice big window in the dining room to invite the morning sun, painted, polished and decorated with hand made curtains and stenciled walls and furniture. We've celebrated lifes sucesses and failures, birthdays and holidays, good news and bad, argued and made up, entertained friends and family,planted flowers and veggies, and built a hen house for "our girls " from recycled materials. We made our little girls dream come true of having a dog of her own when we added Max the Corgi to our family in 2009.
We love, laugh, cry, celebrate, dream, live, learn, create, rest and grow in this " loved/hated little house" and we have learned to have faith that all is as it should be...
Today, I am grateful for each day in this house with my family. We have had more joy than sorrow, more sun than rain and more love than ever. My heart is full and I am home~ And you know what? It's pretty cute too!
Sure, there's still more to do, but we'll get to it!
My mom has a saying, "Life by the Yard is Hard, life by the inch is a Cinch ". Don't cha just love that one?
2009. What was good about it? We made it through helping our parents through two long periods of tough illness. Thank God that is behind us all and they are doing well now. We lived on less while my husbands company cut pay by 10% and sales were down in hopes of riding out the economy and remain grateful he still has a job each day.
Now, the BEST BEST BEST part of 2009 for me... really??? O.k. here it is.. you ready? Our daughter was playing piano at Barns and Noble book store last May. She had had her performance and we decided to stay and listen to the others so we wondered over to the magazine section and started reading. That's when I discovered Mary Janes Farm Magazine for the first time! It was the issue with the sisters who vamped up their camp trailers. Oh my gosh! I just loved it! I remember just smiling and showing it to my mom who was with us that day. We both laughed and giggled... What a hoot! The spirit of the magazine, just lept out and touched my heart. Something inside me just lit up! I couldn't put it down! I bought it on the spot. I came home and began writing... I wrote a little story called Make Each Day your Masterpiece and submitted it to MJF on a whim. Several weeks went by and then the email came from Carol Hill that they were going to publish it in the Tried and True issue. Wow! I was so surprised and so honored. Suddenly, I felt part of a larger community and I still feel that way today. One that is spreading light in the world with stories of hard work ethic's of the good old days, and how to make our todays better too, not just for ourselves but for the "greater good" of us all.
In 2009 I found my calling to write (or it found me, still not sure which). I was inspired to write a second story from the prompt in Keeping in Touch " Picket fence Dreams". I submitted it and once again Carol emailed that it would be published in the Things we Love issue. That was all the encouragment I needed to keep going on with my writing. I'm having fun! I created a blog www.deborahjeansdandelionhouse.com to share these stories, others and creative projects too in hopes of inspiring others to listen to their own creative callings.
MJF Farmgirl Bloggers, Rene,Rebekah,Shery,and Paula add more fuel to my " creative" fire because they are all so truthful and inspiring... Each one, each voice so unique and touching and insightful in their own ways. I am a faithful follower of all 4 of them!
Yep,finding Mary Janes Farm was definitly my "sunshine" for 2009!
Happy Creating in 2010~
Deb~
I know I take procrastination to the limit, however, I have two jobs and stay unbelievably busy....that's my story and I'm sticking to it. :)
Time does tend to get away from me...I meant to answer this post the same day I read it, and then had to go to work. So, two months later...or close to it...
2009 brought on many changes for me. In June my mother passed away, my son came back for the funeral to be with me sparking some unresolved issues with my husband and we ended up splitting up. I had a day care for the past 10 years that I closed due to....waiting till the last moment to finally pick that virtual straw from the camels back.
All this sounds like a lot, and it was at the time but with all these changes came many blessings. I cut my budget to the limit, my daughter set me up with a new business, I now have a cleaning business with as many clients as I can handle on my own. I have a second job at a well known retail store which is easier on me physically than the cleaning so it is definitely a good thing. I cancelled cable and now read. I also discovered the MaryJane phenomenon. I can not truely express what a blessing it is to read her magazine from cover to cover and be inspired not to mention how uplifting all of the online blogs are as well. I truely love reading your blog as well as the other two. I am always left feeling refreshed in a way.
Thank you for taking the time to put your thoughts into your computer for all of us to enjoy.
So I said good bye to 2009 and for 2010 my goal is to get my family tree finished for my kids and grand children, to finally take the time to focus on the things that are truelly important, not just stay busy trying to finish the things that in a hundred years won't matter whether they were done or not, and to strengthen that precious relationship I have with all three of my children and my beautiful grandchildren.
Happy New Year!
Tammie
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