With love from the shore.......

As they say in Paris, Bonne Année.

My family has been beachside in Florida since December 20th. During my just-as-I'm-waking thoughts this morning, I remembered that it has been a while since I've written you, my reader friend, and that I must catch up with you and see how you are. I hope you are doing well and preparing to celebrate the conclusion of 2014.

As far as how I am:

I can tell you about the breathtaking sunrises over the ocean.......

Or about the sunsets on the Banana River.....

 

 

I just have a feeling that you already know that being near the ocean, close enough to walk in the sand, looking for the perfect shell or just breathing in the salty air, is nothing short of a perfect paradise.

But mostly, this message I am writing is my Happy New Year wish for you. Whether 2014 brought many changes, or everything remained the same, I hope it was a year to reflect on, on this last day and to celebrate all of the things that came along as each month rolled into the next one, seemingly quicker this year than the year before.

It's always fun to think of the New Year as a fresh, clean slate, isn't it? Off with the old, and on with the new. I don't ever feel like discarding the year, and I've had a few tough ones, rather, I feel like tucking it away in the memory box, saying thank you for letting me have it, and moving along to what's around the corner.

My wish for you in the coming year:

May you have sunshine within when it's cloudy outside, money in your pocket when you feel like you're poor, a good friend that listens when you need someone to hear you, family that loves you unconditionally, new books to read that you can't put down because they're that good, and a refreshed feeling of hope for the future, when you wake up each morning.

So much to celebrate. Wherever you may be tonight, please stay safe and,  I wish you a very Happy New Year!

With love from the shore,
Tiffany

PS Breakfast at Tiffany's has been seafood galore, it's a must when I'm this close to the ocean!

What makes you feel nostalgic?

nos·tal·gia   


noun

1. a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time

I've been feeling nostalgic for a few days. I don't always relate this to feeling homesick, but it can at times. Looking through picture boxes can really trigger nostalgia for the days when my sisters and I were the hardest playing kids in the neighborhood, as if we were getting paid to play! Wouldn't that be fun.
"I think I'm going to build a fort in the backyard"...."I'll pay you five dollars to do it!".

I can be a daydreamer sometimes, taking simple tasks and creating ideas around them. As I was sweeping the kitchen floor this morning, I thought well isn't this like life?. Gathering little piles of things to throw away because everything looks and feels cleaner when they are tossed in the garbage. If there is something that I no longer need to hold onto, and I know my life would be better if I gathered it up and escorted it out the door, I do. Things like resentment, or grudges. Negativity.

I was doing one of my most favorite activities last night, utilizing the fireplace, when I realized that the beautiful fire I just built, was like a healthy relationship. It needed oxygen. Room to breathe. A solid foundation beneath it. A safe place where it is built, and then cared for throughout its lifespan. I had to tend to the fire every once in a while, to make sure the logs were placed just so. If they had shifted too far to the left or right, I gently moved them back into place, and added more wood to keep the flames burning. 

I love to read, so I have many books laying around, either waiting to be enjoyed, or revisited if they ended up becoming a favorite. One in particular comes to mind that I pulled off the shelf today while dusting;  "Epiphany" by Paul McCusker.
"Richard Lee may be gone, but he's not yet departed. In this captivating Christmas novella, as the unseen observer of the family events that follow his own death, Richard watches his children return to their hometown to attend his funeral, settle the estate . . . and come to terms not only with their father's passing, but the general direction their lives have taken"

I've always loved the word epiphany. I was walking through a bookstore one very cold December Saturday when I stumbled upon this little gem. When I read the excerpt that I just shared with you, I chuckled a little as that is my sons fathers first and middle name, Richard Lee. I thought, well this was meant for me to read obviously, especially given the fact that it has an unreal "It's a Wonderful Life" quality that leaps out of the page from almost the beginning. I hope I've enticed you enough to read it.

Reading a book again, is like visiting an old friend. A comfortable place where you go to become warm inside. Learn about life, or just sit quietly.

What makes you feel nostalgic? I've noticed the feeling coming around after I've just spent time with my family. I was able to walk the beach every morning with my sister(s) over the Christmas holiday. Watching the kids romping through the sand, drinking coffee, laughing hysterically as we are trying to get everyone to stand still and look straight ahead for pictures.....are my favorite memories from this trip. Both my mom and Dad were there, it was monumental to say the least. My youngest sister has become quite the photog, you can visit her here http://www.sincerelysara.zenfolio.com .  In her "About me" portion of the home page, my favorite part reads "I read once that "the days are long but the years are short."

Indeed.

See you soon friend,
Tiffany

PS If I could have THIS with breakfast every morning, my world be a very zen place.

it's just as much filled with promise, as yesterday was

Hope


Smiles from the threshold of the year to come,

Whispering 'it will be happier'...

- Alfred Lord Tennyson

I think we all have that clean-slate, fresh start feeling come January 1. In spite of the year's 12 months-of-our-daily lives, for some reason when that calendar flips to the last month and counts down to the last day of December, the hope of a new year rises within us and we celebrate what has been, and what lies ahead.

I don't like taking down my Christmas Tree.

 It's not because of the physical labor that's involved. I just don't like letting go of the holiday season. I give myself the same speech every year, "we carry that holiday spirit with us all year through, if we so choose". I do pretty well with this mantra. But I decided that I need snow to keep my holiday spirit going. Oh come on Mother Nature, you've done some crazy things this year. What's a little snow in Southtown going to hurt, hmm?

I spent Christmas in Florida this year, with my family. I wasn't sure if it would feel Christmasy to me, given how warm it can be at the beach. I found that the Christmas Spirit resides just about everywhere, even where there are seashells. I walked the beach Christmas Day, and found a glimpse of exactly what I was looking for.

A family had left a message by the ocean, a Merry Christmas by the shore. Complete with a pile of shells and a signature from each family member. I smiled when I stumbled upon it, and had to take a picture so I would remember.

I thought, well it doesn't matter where you go. Christmas, and it's spirit, arrives wherever you are. I didn't give the new year much thought when I was on vacation. When my family gets together, and it's been a very long time since we ALL have been together at Christmas, it's nothing short of slight chaos. Chatter and noise and kids running around and conversations I can barely keep up with,  and music and boat rides, and....well you get the gist. I lived in each moment, and had a fabulous time.

On the long drive home, I had a lot of time to reflect. I was excited for 2012 to arrive, and started feeling that "it's going to be a great year" idea long before I reached Dallas. With tidbits of sand everywhere (and I mean everywhere) I smiled and thought about a resolution or two, as I drove part of the beach home with me. As I type this post, I look up to see the new calendar above my desk, shouting "It's January 2012!" and think about all that I have to fill in on those blank boxes. A wedding to go to (my sister got engaged Christmas Eve), pending visits from my family in May, a possible visit to Cozymel in June with friends, a trip home (Missouri) in my favorite month, October, for Mizzou football and hopefully a KC Chiefs game too. Many things to look forward to, as January rolls in and brings that clean slate.

I do like the "off with the old, on with the new" feeling, but I don't want to erase. I just want to flip the page over, and write the next chapter.

I hope your new year has started off with great things, and has reminded you that it's just as much filled with promise, as yesterday was.

Happy New Year my friend,
Tiffany

PS Breakfast at Tiffany's will be mostly protein and fresh fruit for a while, it's time to get in shape for good things to come!