Shut the door....

And open a new one....

Personally, I love the last day of the year. It’s a chance to shut the door on one part of my life and move on to the next. I was looking through my journal to see what I thought and felt at the beginning of 2021 and realized I didn’t see the huge moves that were on the horizon. Last February we had a big snowstorm, similar to what they are experiencing in the Seattle area right now.

February was also when we made the decision to move and started letting go of our stuff. When people asked when we would move, I said I thought it would be in about nine months and that’s exactly what happened: we moved into our new home October 4, 2021.

Moving caused me to revisit everything I own: books, crystals, clothes, craft and art supplies, pens (oh, my many lovely fountain pens that were donated to the Good Will), even our cars. We decided to make the move with one car and donated the 19 year-old one to an animal welfare organization who sold it and made a bit of money.

During the move, I found some old papers I had kept that dealt with the death of my mother in 1992 and the harsh treatment I received from my family because of my relationship with “that woman.” (This is what my mother called Rhonda and I have had fun teasing Rhonda about this over the years). Except for my 89-year old sister, my family has all passed over to the other side and we’ve had plenty of conversations and healing.

Someone once pointed out that even though suffering from racism is difficult, at least the whole family has the same issue and can deal with it together. People who are gay, bi-sexual, non-binary, or transgender are frequently shunned by the rest of the family of origin and are forced to find support outside their genetic home. Sad, but true.

I didn’t forsee the decision to stop publishing New Spirit Journal. That came later, after the move to Arizona. It’s a good decision and I am excited to see what new doors will open in 2022.

My word for the year is “embrace.” I plan to embrace all the goodness in life: love, joy, happiness, creativity, and lots of color! What about you? What are you taking into the new year and what are you leaving behind? We live in interesting and uncertain times. This is both exciting and unsettling, depending on your point of view. I prefer to be excited about what is to unfold even if I don’t like all of it!

Thanks for being with me here and I look forward to walking through 2022 with you.

Moving forward with grace and ease,

Krysta