Change, change, change

Every year about this time, I start thinking about the year that is nearly over and the nice fresh year coming up. I think about what I wanted to accomplish, what I did accomplish, and what I didn't accomplish.

I think about the things I didn't know I would want to do, but ended up doing; I think about the things I thought I wanted do, but didn't end up doing. And then I start auditioning words to use as a touchstone for next year.

Last year's word was Joy. It was a good word, and the very fact that I still remember it is a good thing. Sometimes the words I choose lose me along the way; I thought they were words that would mean something to me for a whole year, but they're not.

Joy turned out to be inspiring, but sometimes it was a tough act to live up to.

In those hours where it seemed like I would never know it again, it was still there; reminding me that it was a goal, not a given. Sometimes joy has to be worked for; sometimes it has to be waited for. Sometimes it has to be believed in, even when it can't be seen. After working with it for nearly a year, I'm not going to be letting go of it. But I am ready to choose a new word, and this year the word has come early.

Change.

Unlike joy, it's a given, but it can also be a goal. This year, I plan to make it a goal; to change the things I can, and to accept the changes that I don't plan. I want to be open to change, even when it seems confusing or strange. I want to let go and see what comes instead of hanging on to the old ways of doing things, and, most of all, I want to embrace change with joy.

A visit with beading friends

I am so excited about a new book that will be coming out this spring called Marcia DeCoster Presents: Interviews with 30 Beaders on Inspiration and Technique, and not just because I'm one of of the 30 beaders in it.

This book has the work of so many people I hold dear in it; owning it will give me the chance to visit vicariously with them whenever I like. I've already cleared a space for it on the table beside the futon in my studio; I've already imagined myself curling up with a cup of tea and dipping into it whenever I want a break from my own beading.

One of the things that this book brings home is how much the Internet has changed the way we socialize. Marcia has included people she met on-line in it, and that's how I first go to know her; later on, I met her in "real life" and am very happy to have her as one of my friends. Also in this book is my very dear friend Nancy Dale, whom I know only via the Internet, but who is as close as can be even though she lives on the other side of the country; Linda Jones, whose incredible courage and joy inspires me every day; and Beki Haley, a generous spirit whom I got to know on-line and recently met. But those are just three of the wonderful people who are profiled in this book; there are ever so many more on-line friends and, hopefully, future in-person friends.

I will be counting the days until this book ships!