Brrrrrrr...a cold beginning to 2009

For me, this year, 2009, is one of review and reflection. But mostly gratitude.

While I 'retired' at age 50, I should have stayed on leave, and simply taken a break. The impact of caring for dying parents was way too much to think carefully about my career. Living and working in Cottage Country was impossible at the time. Stepping back, rather than retiring early, with a huge financial penalty, would have been a good idea. Hindsight is 20-20, methinks. I have had a few part-time jobs, and wrote a book (Living & Dying With Dignity) of my experiences, including much research into health care. There are many such books on the market, I wish I had read some before that part of my journey began. But there is only the 'now'.

And where will this journey lead? Today it will be out into the garage for firewood. Here we are: another double-digit below zero day. With any luck, despite the Lake Effect clouds and flurries, the sun might come out a bit more and we might get up to -10 C. but we are cozy with the fire on.

I love nature, the changing skies, the beautiful clouds, sunrises & sunsets. A squirrel just knocked on the window asking for peanuts. It upsets the cats, who like to watch the deck action (their TV!).

I will make no resolutions. Just on principle. We need to live every day in the present moment.

But all is not well around here. The anger continues in our town, with the economic downturn, and the incredible rainfall in July, that kept tourists and their $ away. The battle over the Bala Hydro Project, by Swift River Energy Ltd, continues. I am so tired of angst and fear. After a year of preventable deaths and drownings I seek some solace, still, in the blessings of our furry and feathered friends who visit every day.

I read a blog and her group of friends/bloggers are giving themselves the task of posting a word for this year. For me it would be gratitude.

In 2009 I am grateful for this property, bought by my folks in 1960 for $2000, with a mortgage for 50% of the cost! It is a spot of extremes: temperatures (+30 in summer and -30 in winter) , views (sunrises, sunsets, lake ice vs. winds driven water), isolation in winter and a teeming, crowded lake in summer.

My children are far away. Extended family members, the ones nearby, are not all speaking to me! So it is time to be grateful for the ability to make choices and to make change.

I am grateful for my family, our home, our wildlife, our relative health, and our 3 cats.
What are you grateful for?