Merry Christmas 2013

It is early Christmas morning. The house is still, dark and quiet. I appreciate these times. My son is nearly 18, there is no more rushing downstairs first thing in the morning to tear open packages. The season has changed.

So as I type in my darkened room, I am reflecting on the high and lows, sadness and joys, traditions and changes of 2013.

Have you ever played the high/low game? It is often played around the family dinner table. Each member takes a turn sharing the high and the low of that day.
The exercise fosters great discussions, creates meaningful connections and allows parents to keep their finger on the heartbeat of their children.

Let's play! Here are my highs and lows of 2013. Starting with my lows because I like ending on a high note, no pun intended lol!

Lows:
1. Experienced some moments early in the year where I felt a sense of loss and disconnection mainly from myself. 
2. I worried a lot about how this bill would get paid or that need would get met?
3. I held a grudge for several weeks that strained some very important friendships

Highs:
1. Started the year full of expectant hope and I am ending it that same way
2. Committed to exercising regularly. I chose dance as my form of physical activity
3. Read books and started a soul searching book club.
4. Traveled to Louisiana and witnessed a big beautiful Creole wedding
5. Drank good wine while partying with great friends or was that great wine with good friends?
6. Listened to live music including Amazing Grace sung in Choctaw
7. Surrounded myself with brilliantly bright souls who inspire me
8. Laughed...a lot,  and cried some (I love a good cry)
9. Captured sunrises and sunsets, trees and oceans
10. Celebrated births
11. Coordinated a family trip to Vegas
12. Sipped tea
13. Brewed pots of fresh coffee nearly everyday week day for my coworkers
14. Made new friends including one I have enjoyed dating
15. Learned to make my Nana's bread pudding
16. Hosted tea parties for my nieces
17. Lost weight (speaking of which, I need to watch these holiday cookies and get back to dance)
18. Developed a new appreciation for my natural curls
19. Hosted dinner parties
20. Thanked God every time a bill was paid and the needs were met.
21. Experienced a deeper level of joy and contentment in my life once I decided that self-love rather than self-criticism would be my lens
22. Forgave others and myself so that I can live at peace
23. Began planning some 2014 getaways
24. Became active on Twitter which revolutionized my life. Even got retweeted by Oprah...twice!
And one of my greatest highs of 2013 is the decision I made just a few short weeks ago to...
25. Revamp, refresh, restart, renew my blog. I connect through words. Writing is my therapy, my outlet, my creativity, my joy and my passion!

Thankful for this year. Thankful for all of you. Looking forward to a beautifully blessed New Year!

Nachitoches, Louisiana

Merry Christmas and remember for every low, you will experience multiple highs!

J~

Reinventing Me

True Confessions, remember that show? Well, here is my chance to come clean. I have a terrible habit of starting and stopping just about everything. There, I said it. Now it is out there for the world to know. What's that line? The first step towards fixing the problem is admitting you have one. I don't know, something like that. I am the self-appointed queen of the "paraphrase".

So anyway, let's cut to the chase. I've been inspired to blog again. To pick up the pen and put it to paper or rather open up my laptop and stroke some keys. I love expressing myself, always have. Just ask my parents who patiently listened, or at least pretended to, as I expounded on how to correct all of the ills of my siblings, our neighborhood and of course the world. My favorite topic to talk about you ask? Even if you didn't, I am going to tell you. Love! I mean what else is there really? Somewhere and somehow, everything boils down to Love. And love involves relationship whether that be with oneself, your sister, your mother or that object of your affection who either may or may not know you exist.

I have a story, stories to tell about my adventures with love, relationships, heartbreak, sorrow and joy. I have had moments where I felt I could never break free from the grips of perpetual aloneness. And I have had times of a joy so pure, I was sure I had seen the opening of Heaven. All of these experiences were always tied to love and relationship.

Here, today, this 3rd day of August in the year of our Lord two thousand and thirteen, I recommit myself to sharing my heart, thoughts, ramblings with all of you. Yes, it did require me to go formal with the year and all of that jazz mostly because I want it to be official and legitimate. Hmmm, I wonder if there is some deep seeded issue under all of that need to validate myself? I'll ponder that later.

Welcome to my blog, aptly titled "jodi's joy" because if one thing I have learned in my 41 years of life, we can not know true joy unless we are familiar with it's opposite.  I am grateful today. Grateful for the opportunity to begin again. Thanks for accompanying me on this journey, pull up a chair, subscribe so you don't miss one juicy detail and tell a friend. Oh and you may want to buckle up your seatbelt because through all of this love, heartbreak, joy stuff, I am developing an incredible courage to tell the truth, the whole truth,  and nothing but the truth, so help me God. And that my friends, is down right, hard core, scary liberating!!

Wishing you joy,

Jodi