Happy 3rd Birthday J-Land

                      

I am proud to say that The Glass Box was the 86th journal to join J-Land three years ago. Although the journey has been rough, I am still here, and that says a lot.

This past year has been a continued year of survival. I am happy to report that work has been steady, although I have been through four jobs this year alone. Sometimes you feel as if you want to quit, but somehow a single woman just keeps on going and going to meet that need to survive, that continued need to meet your very basic of needs. In doing so, you deprive yourself of so many things, including your need to take better care of yourself and your body, and love continues to take a back burner, because there are more important things that take priority.

      One thing I had been wanting to do for a long time was to spend time with my older daughter and my oldest granddaughter, who celebrated her 3rd birthday this year. It was nice to have been there to make her castle cake and to facilitate the children's games at her birthday princess party.

The miles make it very difficult to see my grandchildren as much as I would like, especially with the high rise of gasoline this year. There is nothing more beautiful than to have your grandchildren's tiny arms around you and for them to say: I love you, Nana. I used to think that grandchildren would make me feel old, but no. Grandchildren make you feel young again.

My journal has helped me to keep my sanity through many difficult work days and through the critical words of people who made it very difficult fto keep my self esteem and feelings of self worth. Sometimes, I feel sad that my journal is not the success storythat it was intended to be. I was so inspired three years ago, but sometimes bad things happen to good people. I hope to be able to recapture that kind of motivation and inspiration in 2007.

The purpose of my journal was to serve as a tool to record and reevaluate my problems with my weight, to return to a healthier way of eating, a life change that would end my struggles with weight forever. Although I continue to struggle with my weight, my journal turned out to be so much more. My journal became an outlet of expression,  my refuge, a vessel that held my most intimate thoughts, an open invitation to new friends and readers who were also struggling with an albatross of their own.

In 2006, my heart continued to beat alone. It is hard to allow someone into your life when you are struggling with so much, but when you have lived without love all of your life, it isnt difficult to do without it. Yes, for a single woman, the job, no matter how stressful, is usually more important than having a man in your life. Sometimes, I feel that he will never be a part of my life until I have time for him, which might never come to pass!

I am still searching for the man who will make me better than I am alone, but for now, the only man in my life is Richard Gere, and for now, that is enough. Will the man I am searching for appear in 2007?

Life, box of surprises, blank pages of my life, stories that I have yet to write!!!!!! What will 2007 hold for me? Only time will tell.... 

   A special thank you goes out to all the people who organized this year's Celebration Events and to Donna who made all of these beautiful graphics. I hope to still be here to celebrate next year's celebration with you.

  A special thank you goes out to all the people who share my passion for the written word, to all of those people who dare to share a part of themselves with the world. Thank you so much for being a part of my life and for being my friends.