For all that has been - thanks. For all that will be - yes.

We on eastern standard time are six hours from putting a close to the year 2013 and opening 2014.  I have mixed feelings about this as I anticipate changes in the new year which are likely to include multiple ups and downs in my life.  Am I ready?  Probably not, but since freezing or delaying time is not an option, all I can say, is Let it Be and Lord, Have Mercy.

The year has been quite full and I have much for which I give thanks.  I offer a gratitude, year-end summary list:

• attending President Obama's second inauguration with close friends, including my college roommate.  The experience was cold, exhilarating, peaceful, and joy-filled -- at least up until the point at which my friend Monica fell ill with the flu, just a few hours after POTUS took the oath 
  
• leading a women's retreat on prayer (inspired by Anne Lamott's book: Help. Thanks.Wow) at Camp Calumet in April with the faithful, caring, and fun women from my church; this was the last time that one of us would step into the waters of Lake Ossippee as our friend Rindi died from ovarian cancer four months after this retreat. Some of her ashes have been scattered at camp.
  
  
• going on a brief retreat myself with UC Div School colleagues in the middle of Pennsylvania -- catching up with a friend I hadn't seen in nine years, playing and praying together with the whole group, hiking along a beautiful waterfall, driving for many, many hours back to eastern Connecticut with one of the cutest kids ever, little Johnny Mills
  
• being accepted into the D.Min. program at Hartford Seminary and beginning the program this fall; I am pictured with MT's (Miriam Therese Winter's) prayer class below
  
  
• welcoming two little Boston cousins into the world: Andrew Pender and Eliana Acadia Harper
• spending a couple HOT days on the Cape with my mom and nephew, which included an adventure in canoeing through the National Seashore
  
• celebrating my dad's 70th birthday by racing a llama during the annual Burro Races in Fairplay, CO; our teams were the aviators and pilots, named after two of his many passions; our shirts read "Go Bananas for Happy" in honor of another passion and the name he is called by his grandkids
  
  
• attending Bishop Elizabeth Eaton's installation in Rockefeller Chapel at the University in Chicago in October; Bishop Eaton is the first female presiding bishop of the ELCA. WOOT! 
• traveling across country with my sister on a not terribly fun road-trip due to fatigue and hunger; the purpose was to bring my nephew's stuff (mainly computer) to him as he was in the process of beginning his freshman year at MIT (super proud aunt right here, another WOOT!)
• going to Disneyworld with John and friends; attending candle-lit processional of Christmas lessons and carols with the Christmas story read by Dennis Haysbert and staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge from which we could view giraffes, wilderbeasts, and zebras grazing outside our balcony; best part of this December/Advent vacation, by far, was the bright sunshine and  70 degree weather 
  
• attending Katie Yahns' and Jeff Kane's joyous and thoughtful wedding (I remember well the terrific homily on their shared middle initial: L!)
• connecting with my college mentor (Ellie Heginbotham) and campus pastor (Gerry Coleman) in DC and saying goodbye to Katie Osweiler before she and Vic headed out to Niger for his Air Force assignment in the embassy
• hiking Mt. Washington with Jack, treacherous though it was 
• reading "Oh the Places You'll Go" at young friend Amy's memorial service at Zion in Ferndale, WA
• another Christmas in Maine with our friends who live in the deep woods where it is always a winter wonderland this time of year
  
  

Indeed,
in the words of Dag Hammarskjold,
for all that has been - thanks!
and, ready or not,
for all that will be - yes!