reflections

inspired by my friends shari and charlotte, i've been doing some looking back on the year. spending time thinking about all the good things in life, instead of getting bogged down by current stress. shari pointed me to this challenge by gwen bell to do just this very thing. i'm a bit behind, and i might not answer all of them, but i sure do like the thought. so here it goes, after what has proved to be a long hard day, let's put some good thoughts to work.

#1 - what was your best trip in 2009?
getting the chance to visit dear friends in portland for a third time. i feel so lucky to have made incredible friendships on the internet, and even luckier to turn those into real life, flesh and blood relationships. the only thing that could have made that trip better was if i could have brought david and the kids and all my other online friends too, to have one big super bbq with kids, cameras, laughing and general awesomeness.

#2 - best restaurant experience in 2009
i've been doing a lot of travel for work again, which has it's ups and downs. sometimes, if i'm really lucky, i can work something fun for myself into a trip. while i was in new hampshire, i was able to spend an evening in vermont with shari. she treated me to a wonderful dinner, but honestly i could have been eating cardboard for all i care, it was a lovely dinner because of my company. the fact that the food was amazing was the cherry on top.

one of the added bonuses of reflecting on good things is that you start to remember exponentially. because now i'm thinking of our last trip to see david's grandparents in arkansas. nothing particularly amazing about the trip itself, but it was one of those occasions when everyone was in a good mood. the kids were wonderful and we all had fun, even out to dinner. see how that works? give it a shot people. it's worth it.