2009

I don't know how many of you know this but the number nine is my favorite number. I was born in November, originally the ninth month, and on the ninth day. I was number nine on my high school basketball team and volleyball team. So, remembering the nines in my life comes easily.
1979 - Eight years old. The Muppet Show and Lawrence Welk, The Electric Company and Hee Haw, my new year's celebration was being woken at midnight to hugs and kisses and then falling back to sleep.

1989 - The year the Berlin Wall came down. On my birthday no less. A party of 150 friends and bands that played as well as a police raid for my birthday. High school graduation (Go Greyhounds!), a first love that broke my heart, and friends that put it back together again. A hundred concerts and dancing on weekends.

1999 - Being the first to celebrate the new year since I was living in Japan. Wearing pajamas, standing in a drafty Japanese telephone booth and racking up $300 in phone charges calling all my friends and family. Losing myself in European travels and finding my way home again.

2009 - Older, wiser, healthier, more humorous. I wish I were younger but know what I know now...and I'm only a third of the way through this life. Wanting to do more but feeling still a bit unsure. Ready for a new chapter of freedom and growth.

Happy New Year!