The dawn of 2010

Well, its back into reality now that school is back in and I have put in a full week and weekend of "normal" life. The weekend before school started, I, like many of my friends, was high on renewed energy, new hopes for betterment of one sort or another. I love the whole idea of the "New Year". Its like the ultimate Monday... the start of the week, when a weekend has gone wrong. Its the ultimate "tomorrow...is a new day". I haven't really done the whole "resolution" thing for 2010... specifically, but I do feel like this is the beginning of something better.

2009 was filled with friends, family and wedding plans. It was getting together with my dearest friends, planning, crafting, and socializing. My family helped plan and create many of the best parts of Michelle's wedding and almost every member of Terry's family and some of mine were here for the wedding. Those were all the good things.....

2009 for me was more sad than I like....Although, Terry's father died just at the end of 2008, it was 2009 that this loss was felt. Also in the loss of Terry's mom's husband (sort of a step parent but not really, cause Terry was a grown man when they got married), which happened in March.. suddenly. From this there was emotional ups and downs, rash decisions and stress beyond imagination. Moves to Ontario, moves back to Nova Scotia...hurt feelings, closed doors. A marriage breakup in Terry's family filled all of our hearts with shock and sadness.. teenage woes in a family dear to me, broke my heart..... the unknown always seemed so dark. Although the wedding and all of the fun activities planned before and after were the highlight of the summer, it was quickly followed by the sudden death of our beloved Mollie, to be followed closely after that (3 weeks) with Stephanie leaving for the unknown of Korean living and teaching. The fall was filled with sadness and worry, with work and routine, with illness and exhaustion. Christmas came very quickly, and although I was stressed about it coming so quickly, I truly enjoyed the whole event. I loved having all the pets, and Michelle and Scott home. I loved having Gail visit, and I loved being able to talk to Stephanie 10 times a day... it was wonderful to have Kim and the girls, along with Corey for Christmas dinner. I felt the turning of the mood.. over Christmas. The beginning of the end of a long hard year.

In the week that lead up to New Year's Eve, I began to reflect on the year, to summarize the pluses and the minus's. I seemed to dwell, on the minus's for a few days... and thought that the end of 2009 couldn't come soon enough... and when it did... as I watched the count down on TV... tears welled up in my eyes.... I felt a weight lift off of my shoulders... it was over... finally.

2010.... a new beginning for me.... A year to get fit. That's my goal. I need to take care of myself... in many ways. I am battling the "menopause" curse of sleepless nights, midsection bulge, rogue chin hairs, emotional ups and downs and HOT FLASHES.

Its all quite exciting in a sick sort of way... every day is a new challenge on what to wear to stay cool and still look like I am wearing winter clothes... I am battling the scale and although the numbers have changed only slightly, my pants are tighter and tighter each day. With emotional roller coaster syndrome comes emotional eating... and therefore I am on an uphill battle to win the battle of the bulge.

Here's the plan... I have taken up snowboarding, down hill skiing,

biking, jogging, juggling, hula hooping, skateboarding, obstacle courses, yoga, aerobics, kung Fu,

river rafting (bubble version), ski jumping and a few other sports. All without leaving my house! We have bought Wii Fit Plus. What a blast. I have never done over half of the sports I have listed above... but now I am skateboarding up ramps and doing

tricks at the top. I am ski jumping farther than 170 meters. I am pretty darn good at the segway, I can juggle three balls at a time, as well as keep 5 hula hoops going for over 400 rotations! If you

have never tried the wii fit plus... you have to come over... Not only do you sweat your butt off, but you also laugh your head off.

With all the head and butt loss... you're bound to get FIT.

With all the wii'ing going on, Terry and I talk in a new language... and so do a lot of my friends. My friends and I share private wii moments across the room, across the curling rink and over Facebook... This is not an advertisement for the Wii.... its a proclamation from me.... I am going to get fit this year.

Move more, eat less... simple.

I am not sure what 2010 will bring, but I know I am already feeling more positive, more energized, more ready to face all my challenges.... Its really nice to close a door behind you and look ahead to what is out there in the path ahead of you...