2010: Wrong in All the Right Ways

If someone had told me in January that 2010 was going to turn out the way it did, I probably would have burst out crying…in fact, I’m pretty sure someone (or several people) did try to tell me this, and I most definitely did burst out crying. So thank you to those people all those months ago. You were right. I was wrong. Admitting defeat is going to be one of my New Year’s resolutions.

There are so many adages and clichés I could use to sum up this past year – “We plan, God laughs;” “Everything happens for a reason;” “Roll with the punches;” and my least favorite of all time: “You can’t get to the rainbow without going through the rain.” Ugh. But it’s so true.

So unlike me, I planned nothing of the good things that came to me this year. And, as always, I never expected the bad. Before 2010, I was a planner. And I was scared of making mistakes. Now, only 12 months later, I’ve learned that mistakes are blessings as long as you learn from them and come out on the other end a better person. I’ve learned that it’s important to do something scary, because risks are giant leaps worth taking. And I learned that nothing in life is concrete – what may seem terrible on the outset, could end up being wonderful.

Life is good, in spite of because of all the ups and downs. And when you learn things the hard way, they stay with you forever. That was the greatest lesson I could have ever learned.

And so, to my favorite adage: I got nothing that I asked for, but everything I hoped for. Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered. I am, among all men, most richly blessed.

All my love and thoughts to all of you for 2011. May you be as lucky, and as blessed, as I have been.