The beginning

Being 21 has been such a beginning for me. I've been through a lot, but I'm still just starting out. I have really felt that this last year. I've done things that are really really "21" like spending Sunday mornings watching the TV I like while eating pancakes and browsing Pinterest. I have taken countless funny videos of my roommate/best friend and posted them online. As someone who intends to have a family later in life, I really relish in this period of selfishness and indulgence. I kinda answer to no one. Even though I've been with the same man five and a half years, I'm rather unencumbered and able to move through life how I choose. There was a period where I felt stifled and held back by thyroid cancer, never able to make decisions, always waiting for the next piece of news, but I think that has passed. My most recent tests and ultrasound show no change, so I go back in another three months. I guess my new normal fits okay.

I completed a 200 hour teacher training this year and was apart of a group of women of all different ages and backgrounds. I have to say I was impressed at how well educated they all are--they're all working professionals with college degrees. As someone who didn't finish college, I am highly impressed by that! Maybe to some a Bachelor's means little, but I really admire that achievement. I digress. I was the youngest in the group, but the differences pretty much ended there. I had something in common with each woman; it was a great group and I easily related to all of them. I have started teaching yoga at two studios now, and it's very interesting. As a yoga teacher, I am at the beginning. In the future, I aspire to do more training, gain more knowledge, and become an experienced teacher. But today I am a new teacher and I jumble my words in class and say left when I mean right, but I earnestly continue to guide my students' attention back to their breath and to the present moment, the only place where joy and love can be experienced.

I lived in a beautiful house in Sacramento for six months during my teacher training. Unfortunately paths went in different directions and I'm about to move out. The news really knocked me down at first. I feel like I'm at capacity with external forces reaching into my life and screwing things up. I have stayed buoyant, though. I'm just going with it. When I moved into this house, I didn't know how long I would get to live in such an awesome space. I wish it were longer than six months, but it was a privilege to be here.

Here's my beautiful friend Heather and I. It is still so unusual to me that I'm missing part of my neck there. Can you see it? I didn't at first. I may never be photographed in such good lighting again. I look photoshopped....we were looking into the evening sun I think.

I'm welcoming year 22 with an open heart. Cheers.