Endless Possibilities

Things that could (with true likelihood) happen in 2010:
A trip to South Korea to visit Mia Sorella.
A week's vacation in the Hills.
Mt. Rushmore for the 4th of July.
More kayaking in Wisconsin.
Skydiving in Colorado.

As 2009 draws to a close, I can't help but look back on a year that was, by all accounts, far too back-and-forth for me to feel any level of calm at the end. Plenty of relief -- but very little calm.

This year I went to seven weddings. I spent two weekends just hanging out with my parents. I stood at Tower Hill in London; I looked up at the Empire State Building in the rain; I sat in a harnessed seat next to a new Australian friend, looking out at Las Vegas from 900 feet above.

I sat with the parents of a friend who killed himself ... and a couple days later went to his funeral. I watched as several of my coworkers left following a round of layoffs, and I stressed out three months later when my own project was unceremoniously -- and quite unexpectedly -- cancelled.

I watched as my little brother went to South Africa and my little sister moved to South Korea. I went to a family reunion to celebrate my granddad's 75th birthday, and saw my parents off for their first inter-continental trip ever.

When things were high they were awesome and when things were low they were terrible. I saw more, did more, and cried more than any other single year in my adult life.

Here is where you're finding me
In the exact same place as New Year's Eve
And from the lack of my persistency
We're less than half as close as I want to be

When last year ended I was at an all-time low for optimism. If I were to be totally honest, I'd say that perhaps that lack of enthusiasm was even more justified than I realized at the time.

Not the most encouraging thought, but it wasn't exactly an encouraging year.

Perhaps it's a deep-seated preference for even years that makes me feel better about 2010. I suspect it has more to do with the feeling of relief at a haywire year ending, however.

And for that matter, a haywire decade.

Do you remember where you were at the turn of the millennium? I do. I was fifteen, hanging out with my dad's side of the family (which, at the time, included seven cousins ten and under), making "2000" glasses out of red pipe cleaners.

It's a rather distinct memory.

Now, as the next decade turns (I'm going to call 2010 the next decade, whether or not that's correct), I find myself in a completely different place in every respect. Not shocking, considering I was a sophomore in high school last time.

It's still an interesting conundrum. Is the world in a completely different place?

Not really, no. We're still fighting the same fights. There have been some power shifts. Some headway's been made in some places and ground lost in others. Technological advances have been made but there haven't been any mankind-altering changes.

It's strange how much and how little can happen in ten years.

Yet, despite this -- or possibly because of this -- I'm feeling, for the first time in quite awhile, like we're on our way. We still have a lot of work to do. There are still too many things going wrong for us to start patting ourselves on the back.

But after a year of treading water, I think we're ready to test that forward motion thing again.

Cheers, folks, and here's to a New Year with potential.

(Lyrics taken from "I Celebrate the Day" by Relient K)