Overjoyed

Friends in the Meadow on New Year's Day

January 1st, 2012

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year!

Today, New Year’s Day, I hosted a small gathering of friends here at the cottage – mostly new friends since the fire – and we ate and drank and played games and laughed for hours.  At one point we went around in a circle and talked about our “lowlights” and “highlights” of 2011, and each of us spoke about our joys and sorrows of the past year, and what we wished/expected/hoped for in 2012.  We talked of our dreams, disappointments, and our hopes for meaningful work, prosperity and service.  I was so moved by what everyone shared.

So precious, these times with friends. Since the fire I appreciate everything more, knowing how quickly things can change, disappear, or turn upside down. Life truly feels short, and I feel a need more than ever to pay attention, to really see what is going on around me right NOW. For who knows what waits around the next corner?

Right now it is the first of January, 2012, and I am still smiling from the day. My friends have gone home, and I’ve piled the dishes in the sink to soak (I’ll think about them tomorrow, at Tara.) I am here in my little cottage, listening to Christine Kane sing, “Overjoyed,” and Nellie is sleeping curled up in her bed, and I am deeply content. I am alone, but not lonely.  Single, but so loved.

My friend Kathy Davis used to say to me, “Andi O’Conor, you are the luckiest person I know.”  I used to brush it off, or roll my eyes, but now I see the truth of her words.  Fire and terrible loss have brought me to a new place, where I am not destroyed, but renewed.  Today I have new friends, a new career, and a new house in progress.  My heart and mind have opened in ways I could never have anticipated, and my life has taken a direction that I never thought possible.

I realize that my friend Kathy is right – I am absolutely, positively, the luckiest person I know.

Wishing You Great Good Fortune, Peace and Prosperity in the New Year, and Sweet Dreams,

Andi

Overjoyed – by Christine Kane

The midnight sky all stars and black
Like darkened glass and glitter
Suggests that I go back inside
And wait for warmer weather
So here it’s New Year’s Eve again
And everything keeps changing
I raise my glass and toast the Gods
In charge of rearranging

All of the world is designed to remind you
All of the light you could find is inside
Under all of the noise
What’s it like to be overjoyed

In spite of day-time planners higher standards
Dreams defended
There’s not a single thing that’s turned out
Quite like I intended
And so you learn that holding on
Is nothing less than panic
When big things fall apart
Then hearts get that much more gigantic

All of the world is designed to remind you
All of the light you could find is inside
Under all of the noise
Are you scared to be overjoyed

It used to be a race to see
Just who’d get there the fastest
But this frozen night it’s only right
To consecrate the madness

All of the world is designed to remind you
All of the light you could find is inside
Under all of the noise
Here’s your chance to be overjoyed

(Copyright 2007 – Firepink Music. You can buy this song and Christine’s music here.)