Looking back...and looking forward...

We are nine days into the new year. 2012. At moments it is hard to wrap my brain around the fact that this is where we are. This is what I've chosen. This is where I am. In time. In my life. In physical location. In emotional space. In life.

I had a wonderful holiday vacation in Michigan, 21 days worth. I had been so looking forward to the trip, for months. We bought our tickets back in September and the anticipation grew quickly. I love Christmas. I love visiting friends and family. I love the idea of laying on my parents' big couch, sipping peppermint cream flavored coffee, reading, looking at the lit Christmas tree. It was such a needed few weeks.

It was insanely busy at times too. We arrived in Michigan Saturday night before Christmas. Sunday morning there were two church services, caroling to shut-ins, and a Christmas tea that night. It was a whirlwind that pushed right into Monday which found us cooking, baking, wrapping, shopping, cleaning, you name it, we were doing it! Thursday we hosted an open house for some 85+ friends that went on for eight hours and was a blast. Friday found us starting four days of Christmas celebrations with our three different families. Add to that decorating sugar cone trees with the grandneighbors, fighting off sickness (by the next week all four of us in our immediate family would find our way to the doctor and/or Urgent Care for bronchitis and sinus infections) and it was just a very busy time.

But through it all we laughed. We played games (Scattegories Categories and Wii Family Feud are new family faves). We shared books and stories (I read SEVEN books!!!). We ate too many cookies and not enough ham (stop by 822 North Michigan in Howell and you can have a sandwich). We spent long afternoons with friends and family. We celebrated holidays and birthdays and naptime. We did it all.

So by the time Saturday rolled around, as much as I hated to leave, and as much as I tried to pretend there weren't tears in my eyes, I was also realizing it was time to go back to life as it is most of the year. It's not that this vacation was abnormal and regular life is normal, it's just that it's time to refocus and begin the work of living every day again. Moving forward with workout routines, weight loss plans, writing samples, job applications, networking, etcetera.

So here I am. Looking forward. Looking at what this new year will bring. I'm back at my desk. I'm still feeling the affects of the illness that had a hold of me several weeks' back. I'm slowly returning to post-vacation life (just ignore the open suitcases scattered throughout the house). I've got my fingers on the keyboard again and things feel good.

So I'm looking forward, while always looking back. Always carrying in my heart every single conversation, every single hug, every single memory I've made. Now and forever. And all of it, every single second, will keep me going until it's time to go back. Because, really, there's nothing like the thrill of anticipation to get me going. Nothing at all.