Possibilities

Kitten Luna watching the ball drop on her first-ever new year

If you follow this blog then you know that the past year has been one of incredible change and challenges for me and mine. As you can imagine, I was more than happy to see the back of 2012, but since all the same issues I had on my plate would still be there in the new year I wasn't expecting to feel much different once the ball dropped.

The Princesses wanted to stay up until midnight to ring in the new year. At first I said yes, but then I realized that Baby Brother would never make it, and in fact, would be up at dawn as usual no matter how late he or the rest of us stayed up. That was the end of the staying up till midnight idea, but the girls and I compromised on a more reasonable alternative. Everyone went to bed at their usual hour, but I set my alarm and woke the girls up at 11:30, just in time to see the ball drop.  As the count down started I told the Princesses this was the moment to think about every sad, painful, frustrating, angry-making thing that had happened in 2012,  and then let it all go. As the ball dropped and the new year arrived all three of us took a deep breath, exhaled, and made room in our hearts and minds for better, happier memories to  be made.

This morning I woke up feeling surprisingly optimistic and positive in spite of myself. I guess there is just something about a new year, tantalizingly full of possibilities, that gives us all hope, no matter what our present circumstances might be. When you think about it all those revelers who filled Times Square last night weren't there just to see the page on the calender change. No, they were really there to usher in hope, to cheer for change and to celebrate the limitless possibilities of dreams.

One thing I know for sure is that this year we WILL get the answers we have been waiting for. Life after foster care finally seems like a tangible, if still distant, reality. Knowing that leaves the door open to believe that good things are just around the corner for us all, and lets me hope that the worst is truly behind us.

Whatever your dreams for 2013 are, whatever your plans or resolutions, or lack thereof, the Princesses, Big Brother, Baby Brother and I all wish you a very happy new year from the Slow Lane.