Contemplation

So, so much has happened in the six months since I last wrote.  I started what I've been calling a "life list" a couple of years ago.  I suppose it's comparable to a bucket list, but I don't really like the urgency or negative spin of that term.  For me, this "life list" is an ever-evolving idea of things I aspire to do in my lifetime: creative and personal challenges that I one day hope to meet, milestones I look forward to reaching, and experiences that I want to have: to enrich my life, to strengthen my will and courage, and to help me continue to define who is it I am and want to be.  The past thirteen or so months have brought me difficult work, bittersweet family moments, rich happiness, thousands of tears, life decisions, and fulfillment mixed with anxiety.

Tonight, as I decompress from a long week's work - with potato-leek soup on the stove, a glass of red wine at my side, comfy leggings and slippers on my body, pumpkins and twinkly lights adorning my livingroom, sweet puppy (!) dozing on my comfy chair, and husband just about ready to end his shift so I can pick him up from work - I am thinking about what the past year has brought, the huge challenges ahead, and the creativity that I truly aspire to infuse in the years ahead of me, both near and far.  Sometimes, our creative outlets return to us when we need them most.