Happy New Year!!

I am ending 2011 in the perfect way (at least for me).  No loud parties, no big celebrations.  Just a quiet evening alone with my wife.  I have a roaring fire going in the outside fire pit, I am wrapped in a warm blanket, staring at the stars and moon, and reflecting on how blessed and grateful I am for everything that I experienced in 2011.

One of the things that I am thankful for is the release that I have experienced from writing this blog.  I wrote on 337 days (plus 19 other times on another blog of mine) and gained an audience from all over the world. The U.S., Canada, Singapore, the U.K., Sri Lanka, Latvia, Russia, Ukraine, Switzerland, Denmark, and India all visited the Campfire Chronicles on a regular basis. Strange thing is that I didn't tell many people at all about the blog.  And I didn't write to gain an audience.  I wrote to chronicle my journey and to communicate with my family.  Along the way, I started to take notice of more things and to be more aware of things around me so that I could write on a daily basis.  While at the campground, writing helped me sort out my feelings and thoughts and helped me make sense of things.  And as the year progressed, I think I gained perspective by being able to write.

In a strange way, the blog helped me gain new employment.  My brother-in-law reads The Campfire Chronicles almost daily and hinted at me working with him through a response to the blog.  Certainly, this was a life-changing event for me.  Since late October, I have not been in a camper without running water, taking showers in a cold cinder building, and being alone night after night with absolutely no human being in sight.  I am now in a huge city, surrounded by a wonderful family, living in a house (with running water) and loving my new position.  Yes, I am counting my blessings and consider myself very fortunate.

I have read several times throughout this week that people are ready for 2011 to be over and for 2012 to start and begin anew.  I am thankful for 2011 and wouldn't change anything.  I learned a lot about myself and about life.  I am grateful for the hard times and the lonely times.  I am grateful for the experience of pushing through and having to drive back and forth from Kentucky to Tennessee every week.  I appreciate my family and my life more because of it.

So, yes I am looking forward to 2012.  I want to do better, learn more, love more, and be more disciplined.  I also want to get in a "groove" and get settled.  I want to watch my boys from a distance and see how they mature as young men.  I am looking forward to a new season of my life with my wife as an "empty-nester".  I am looking forward to snow and traveling to places that we used to go to like Door County.

I also know that times will be tough.  With an election year and uncertainty surrounding us worldwide, things are more chaotic and less predictable than ever.  But with God's help, I am hopeful of another year of personal growth and maturity.

My God bless you in the New Year!!