Good reminder for the new year!
2011 had varying degrees of difficult losses:
~ Although my grandfather passed away at the very end of 2010, his memorial, and most of our family grief swelled in 2011. Visiting Florida in October was so sad without him there, but our time there honored him at the same time.
~ Back in August, all my photographs from 2010 and all our videos from several years were lost when our hard drive was accidentally destroyed. Ugh. There's one to learn from, at least.
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~ In November, my friend suddenly and unexpectedly lost her husband. Dave was only 3 months older than I, and seeing him lying in the casket really reminded me of the fragility of life. Observing their kids (that are my kids' ages) mourning the loss of their dad was among the strongest empathetic sadness of my life. I physically ache for them.
~ Beginning in April and officially in December, a dear mentor-relationship that I had ended after more than three years of almost daily communication. He was a steadfast beacon during the most challenging and chaotic years of my life, offered perspectives that I never considered before, challenged my resolve to maintain grace and dignity, and even helped me navigate through the strange world of Corporate America from afar. He changed the person that I am even though we fought (through written word) constantly.
Most of the time, he was an arrogant old grouch and I, a gigantic pain in the ass. Somehow though, we collided, and formed a strange friendship. I'm still inconsolably sad to see it end.
With these varying levels of losses, comes varied life lessons. Some are so easy to grasp, like losing those photo/videos. The others are so much harder. Like, what can we learn from death? And, what more can I learn from losing someone I was still learning from?
I guess we could refer back to the original thought at the top of this page; surrounding ourselves with people who love us, as a starting point to begin the new year.
Welcome TWENTY-twelve!
May you bring happiness, love, friendship, health, and prosperity to all those that I know and love.
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