2007

What a year. There has never been another year in my life in which so many life-changing events were packed into such a short time. I compare the upcoming January to that of one year ago, and I can barely recognize my life, as it was.

While it's true I'm the same person, it's also true that my life has been affected in so many ways this year, that I will never be the same. So many have reached out and touched my life, cheering and supporting through personal hurdles.

Saying goodbye and sending my son off to Iraq is the hardest thing I have ever done. Before that day, I would have said that picking out my father's casket was the hardest thing I had ever done. A morbid measure, I know, but still, the thought that often goes through my mind is "even THAT was easier than THIS."

And so many more just came running when I put out the call for beanies, last May. I'd wager there are thousands of you that have contacted me, to bring beanies, to send beanies, to send care packages, to send money. So many have stepped up and said "I can't do much, but..."

But.

But you DO.

Something.

Anything.

Last May, I asked of you this: Don't Do Nothing.

What you did this year to change my life forever was to respond with a resounding "We Won't!"

Elizabeth Gilbert closed her book Eat, Pray, Love, with this sentence:

In the end, maybe it's wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices.

Perhaps she's right.

Thank you.

I mean it.

Thank you.

Forever.





Oh yeah. And one more thing:



And Happy New Year, that too!