Happy New Year

Yes, it's New Years Eve and I'm at home, on the sofa, blogging. I guess I'm just not much for being out there with the rest of the world.

It's been a crazy year in a lot of ways. It started off with losing my job of six years, but thankfully finding a new one a month later. (And still liking it so far, a nice bonus.)

It's been a year of watching my father struggle with his increasingly poor health, being sure to treasure the time I spend with him now and value the pieces of myself that come from being raised by him.

It's been a year of balancing both horses with a more professional job--one where showing up disheveled and muddy after going to the barn first doesn't really work. That has been hard for me, because it always seems there is more to do. Steve frequently reminds me our horses get more attention and exercise than 80% of the horses out there, but it is easy to feel inadequate when I see Lena's "I'm neglected" face staring out through the pen rails.

It's been a year that included watching Steve heal and get back to riding after an accident that could have been much worse than it was, but is still causing ripples here and there. (The vertigo tends to pop up sometimes, which is aggravating.) The feeling of mortality is a bit unnerving, but it reminds me to belly up to the bar and live life because the Mack Truck could be waiting right around the corner.

And finally, it's a year in which my daughter has started figuring out her own path--which (as of yesterday) includes her own horse, a sweet little Quarter Horse mare named Sammy. I would not necessarily have recommended this for her, but there are times as a parent you have to step back and let them figure it out. This is one of those times and she will learn something no matter how it turns out for her.

I don't know what 2010 has in store for us all, besides another birthday of course, but the lessons we take from this year are sure to serve us well into next.

Happy New Year!