Goodbye 2011, Bring it On 2012!

It is always interesting how life sometimes brings us full circle.  When I started blogging a few years back I never would have foreseen the adventures that awaited my future.

After working in the fitness industry for ten years, I knew that there was more to me than developing class formats, putting together music, and prancing around up front and center motivating people to endure the next hour grueling exercise.  I had begun to lose my passion for fitness after some time and knew that something better awaited me on the other side of the gym doors.

That's when blogging began for me.  It sparked a rebirth in my love for writing, for the art of expression, and for the avenue to bring my imagination alive.  I had no idea that I would passionately fall in love with writing.  That I would soon eat, sleep, and dream writing.

With no formal training, no degree in journalism or English, I landed myself a cushy little job about a year and a half ago writing for a local online news website.  At first, my job was to cover local businesses but after awhile I found my boundaries too constraining.  I was then given the freedom to venture out and write about whatever peaked my interest.  This resulted into a bi-weekly column which eventually went weekly.

My year and a half with Patch was incredible.  I learned more about myself working with Patch than would've been possible had I not taken a leap of faith and begun to write.  Being the middle child with a hearing impaired older brother, a younger sister by four years, growing up with divorced parents, and a mother working full-time, I had always considered myself serious, overly-responsible, and innately the little parent.  Patch brought the sometimes reckless, quirky, humorous side of me back to life.  Something about standing among a pit full of tomato hurlers, Dandia dancing with worshipers from India, playing trivia with drunk but incredibly intelligent IT guys, and noticing the sparkling eyes in two aspiring young actresses...well, it  changed me profoundly.  It taught me to embrace the "fun" in life and instilled in me unquenchable thirst to continue to write.

Patch taught me that I was funny when I never thought there was funny bone in me.  It taught me I had talent, I just needed an opportunity for someone else to believe in me so that I could believe in myself.  I learned to take criticism, something I've always struggled with, when readers didn't like what I wrote or felt my opinions were wrong.

This week was my last Patch column.  I have become so accustomed to living from one deadline to the next with occasional extra deadlines in between.  It will be strange the upcoming weeks to learn to readjust to life without my "Wednesday by noon" drop time.  All things happen for a reason and as the past has shown me, when one good thing goes, another good thing takes its place.  I've worked as a party princess, a Disney character, a physical therapy aide, a group exercise instructor, a personal trainer, and now a professional writer.  How lucky am I to have had such incredible and amazing jobs?  I can't imagine and can't wait to see what new adventure awaits me.

2011 was certainly a year of growth.  It was also a year of loss and tragedy.  In April we lost my sweet step-sister Andreae at the young age of 42.  She was beautiful, smart, and her light was snuffed way too early.  In October, I nearly lost my mother and the memory of looking at her for what I thought was last time as she was wheeled into the operating room will be forever burned into mind.  Thankfully, there were angels with her that day and she was given a new lease on life.

With 2012 only a few days away, I am looking forward to starting the year with a heart of gratitude, thankful for new beginnings, new endevours, and new possibilities.  I am incredibly blessed with the support of amazing friends, a husband that can make me laugh even when things look bleak, and three boys who remind me not to take life too seriously.  How much better could life be? Happy New's Years!