A Clean Slate

This being January first and all, it seems almost MANDATORY that a blog be written about resolutions, clean slates, new starts, etc etc.
I have always despised the whole NEW YEARS EVE celebratory fetes.
In my younger, partying days it seemed forced and just an excuse to behave badly fueled on by alcohol. Later, it seemed best to just work -- bartending, waitressing, etc. If I had to be out, might as well make money at it.
Now it seems just best to stay in, and reflect.
Take the tree down.
Start January 1 with a clean slate: or the very least: a clean house.

Today I am puttering about.
sweeping floors, cleaning bathrooms, getting into all those nooks and crannies avoided when there were oodles of thing to be done in the name of Christmas and all that goes with it.

During a long drive yesterday with the family, my brain kept going back to a favorite poem.
A poem I first discovered in high school and loved and latched onto with the fervor of youth.

Oddly enough, now at this *ahem* ripe old age, I am finally truly getting what it all means.
Let me share the poem with you. It is called WAITING and it is by John Burroughs

ERENE, I fold my hands and wait,

Nor care for wind, nor tide, nor sea;

I rave no more 'gainst time or fate,

For, lo! my own shall come to me.




I stay my haste, I make delays,

For what avails this eager pace?

I stand amid the eternal ways,

And what is mine shall know my face.




Asleep, awake, by night or day,

The friends I seek are seeking me;

No wind can drive my bark astray,

Nor change the tide of destiny.




What matter if I stand alone?

I wait with joy the coming years;

My heart shall reap where it hath sown,

And garner up its fruit of tears.




The waters know their own and draw

The brook that springs in yonder height;

So flows the good with equal law

Unto the soul of pure delight.




The stars come nightly to the sky;

The tidal wave unto the sea;

Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high,

Can keep my own away from me

I am especially drawn to the lines:
I stand amid the eternal ways
and what is mine shall know my face

Eternal ways........What do YOU consider "eternal ways" ?
I think for me, they have alot to do with the words I chose to tattoo on my body:
Peace, Love, Grace, Faith, and Compassion.

And if you are reading this.....or are in my life now.....,
well--you know my face and chances are: somewhat like minded.

Lets not think of the New Year as a time to "wipe a slate clean" or start anew.
Think of it as shedding skin....the essence is still there.....but cast off all that bogs you down. All that is NOT an eternal way. All that does NOT know your face.....

May 2012 be the year that you become the best YOU you can be.
May your life be filled with unexpected joys and blessings abounding.