Last Post of 2004:
Today is the last day of 2004 and I’ve been thinking all week about what to say, as a roundup, as an analysis, as a farewell to a Matterhorn ride of a year. Truth, I’m rather speechless. This was one of the more dramatic years of my life, where the highs rang out like yell in a canyon and lows sank me to my knees. Or rather my bed.
I worked on a book most of the year, that’s all but done and is actually up on Amazon. My book. It hasn’t felt real until now. I celebrated three years in a relationship with Suzan, love deepened by trips to two countries and a cat named Faygo. I worked on Litquake again, the biggest baddest festival of its kind to date. It’s still being talked about several months later. I started taking my career more seriously, leaving The Grotto, building an office, petitioning for membership in the National Speakers Association and entering into talks about my second book. I volunteered at the San Francisco Food Bank, Jewish Family and Children Services and The Hub. I saw friends get engaged, get married, come to San Francisco and move away. Some are starting to have kids. Some are just figuring out what they want.
Seeing John Kerry lose in November broke my heart. It hasn’t quite mended.
Most of all, I spend a lot of this year thinking about health and well being. I turned 31 which means worries and concerns you don’t have when you’re 20. I focused on eating well, exercising, meditating each morning. The first week of the year, I’m getting a physical, going to the dentist and getting my eyes checked. I intend to live a long time. Best to be diligent now, when I’m healthy and active. I’m buying comfort and piece of mind later.
Well being to me also means less ego, less relentless thirst for self-gratification, understanding my place in other’s lives and my place in the world. This is the area where I need the most help, particularly with a book coming out next June and a summer’s worth of “me me me” ahead for 2005. But I’m going to try to remember that I live my best life as one of many, with an understanding of my loyalties to others, to my family, to my home, instead of as one and only.
So I’m ready for 2005 and the huge changes it will bring. I can best appreciate them if I remember, even as they are happening, that I am still me, am good at being me, and like it.
See you tomorrow. And the whole year after…