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Happy New Year
A friend e-mailed that he hoped that my 2012 would be a year of growth. It will be. It has to be. I know of no other way, much to the torment of a lot of people around me who likely tire of my semi-constant labor pains of being born. I recall my oldest son's toast at my last wedding's reception in which he said that if there is any one thing that his dad is about, that is growth. Every day is a growth opportunity; more so, it is responsibility. And that combination at each sunrise makes for high hopes for a happy new year.
I am not sure that I can wish you more than my friend wished and my son suggested.
Growth can mean many things, and my growth for 2012 will be based on "simplify, simplify" and I will learn about hunting critters and growing things that I can eat, and I will explore my local community with words and images, and I will begin my much longed-for exploration of Mississippi (my father's state of origin) in order to publish a book about the region that is my tap root to coincide with what would be my dad's 100th birthday in 2013. I will take my trips-literal and figurative-to the geographic and emotional regions I long to discover more about. I will grow as a grandfather and a father in-law, and will continue my journey as a dad. I will love, and I will do so in new ways, private ways. I will speak my mind in areas that I have resisted. I will maintain my vows...to my Self and my beliefs and my faith. I will remember that pain and setbacks serve to prune my growth to make me stronger...if I allow them to. I will cry...or continue to do so; I will laugh...or continue to do so. I will remember the wisdom of my parents, that the outcomes of life are no one's fault. I will craft poetry, writings and images from newly exposed nerves of vulnerability and awareness. I can only hope that when my trunk is examined some day, observers will see in the rings of 2012, I grew in not-altogether perfect conditions. That....is....life; that is living.
I wish you growth...whoever you are, wherever you are.
Listen to Life is a free newsletter about learning and getting more from life by paying attention to our own stories and the stories of others, based on the presentations, writings, photography and workshops by Dion McInnis (www.dionmcinnis.com). Copyright 2012 Dion McInnis. All rights reserved
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