Looking Back

Standing at the threshold of a brand new year, with the old year put by to season and mellow into sweet nostalgia, we breathe deeply and open our arms wide. We stretch, we lift our best foot, and we take the first step forward.

We don't forget that the year we're leaving was not all sweets and butterflies, but some bitter, some sorrow, some pain and some struggle. Without the work, however, we know the good would be meaningless. We also know that in the coming year, we'll find new challenges, new reasons to cry, new things to learn and new joy.

If we pause at this moment of new beginnings, we'll remember that this is what it is to be human, and we'll realize that we're all sharing this fresh start, all launching into the unknown together. We won't feel overwhelmed, lost, or afraid, we'll feel bound together, united, and able.

We will find some optimism for the future. We will stay rooted in the present. We will not forget our past.

We will not forget our past.

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are but small matters

compared to what lies within us." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson