5 minute reflection

What an interesting year this has been. Thinking back, I can remember so many new experiences, and so many challenges.

This has been the year for change.

My daughter is suddenly a teenager, a high school student who has discovered her own little spot in the world (and internet). She has changed so much over the last year, but in very positive ways. I can see she is clearly much more comfortable in her own skin, and has finally found more awesome people just like her.

International travel finally became a real for me, with not one, but two trips abroad this past year. Vegas was an experience while Germany stole my heart.

Health wise, this has not been a great year, but still better than some others experienced. But I can tell you, having flu-like symptoms most of the year is not fun, especially if doctors perform test and find nothing wrong.

Work has been challenging. I love the work I do, but people cause me great deals of frustration in general. This year, my tolerance for stupidity and mediocrity ran out quite early, making my work life quite hmmm... Difficult. For the most part, I spent the year fixing the fuckups of those who could not be bothered to give a damn. I sometimes feel like I didn't achieve as much as I would have liked, but I may be a little hard on myself.

I sometimes feel so alone in this world, but realised recently that, no matter how crappy I feel, I have a handful of fabulous people in my life. And even if we don't speak daily, they understand my brand of crazy - which helps more than they would ever know. And frequently saves my life.

In 2012, we will be concluding some of the things we started this year, and this hopefully includes moving our family to a new location across the ocean.

How did 2011 treat you? Did you grow, did you change?