You've come a long way baby

Normally I like to take some time New Year's Eve to reflect on the past year. I didn't do that last year because frankly, 2006 sort of sucked.

To be honest, 2007 didn't start off any better, if anything, the first half was pretty ugly, ugly enough that at times I'm still sort of surprised I survived it. I guess that's why this year it is more important than ever to look back on how far I've come because it's a long long way.

A year ago I was fighting with everything I had to hang on to a friendship I'm now not sure ever really existed. I was fighting to hang on to something else to: hope. I lost it for a while there, hope that things could ever get better. I learned that when you're at the bottom it's hard as hell to be able to see the way out again.

I learned that some people will always disappoint you. I also learned that some people will come through for you when you need it most. Maybe most importantly though I learned that sometimes even the hardest things we go through are meant to bring us to the places we're supposed to be.

This is supposed to be a knitting blog right? I wonder some times if I would have started knitting if I hadn't been through what I did. Then other times I wonder if it would have been so bad if I'd had knitting to begin with.

My resolutions for 2008 are simple. In life, I want to never forget the journey 2007 put me on but I also want to move on from it. Time to close that chapter for good. I also want to remember that it is both okay and natural when friendships fade and to try not to let them go out in a cloud of resentment and hate.

In knitting, I want to knit everything I have in my stash today before the end of next year. I can still buy yarn but it's meant to encourage me to use what I already have too.

So here, at the end of 2007 I am grateful to be here and thankful that I am happy and healthy and hopeful that the dark corners of 2006-2007 are behind me.

Happy New Year.