Happy New Year from Costa Rica!

We (the husband and I) are celebrating New Year’s with my sister and her family in beautiful Costa Rica!

As always, I find myself reflecting upon the last year and the lessons it taught me. 2021 saw me lose my beloved mother to lung & liver cancer. It was a short battle, lasting a mere 37 days from diagnosis to death. The mad scramble to clear out her house for the next tennets and our summer was gone. If we even had one.

Then my sister enacted her plan to sell everything and move to another country. It felt like I was being left behind and alone. It had always been the three of us after Dad split when I was 7. Now with Mom gone and my sister in Costa Rica, I feel more alone than I ever have before.

I am, however, far from being alone. I have a great circle of friends. I have a loving husband and two great kids (who are technically men, themselves). I have a chance to reinvent myself to a degree – come out of the shell a little bit more.

And so, with little planning, we decided to celebrate the new year by visiting my sister. It gives me the chance to put my heart at ease and know that she is truly okay down here. And she is.

I’m going into a year of fresh starts. A new job. A new attitude. An opportunity to make my life my own. I am welcoming 2022 with open arms. Many blessings to you and yours on this eve of beginning chapters.