It is past noon, yet the house is still quiet. Shawn and Hunter are tangled together in our bedsheets, sweet exhaustion from far too late a night keeping them slumbering long beyond normal rising.

I have savored two mugs of warm tea and hung the new calendar in the kitchen. I am indulging myself, ignoring the myriad To Dos that clamor for my attention, relegating their silent, yet energetic needling to the background, instead catching up on friends' writing, blogs, summaries of the year past and hopes for the new year now upon us.

And a summary and hope of my own?

This past year has been one of internal growth, of introspection and release of self-imposed limitations. I have started to incorporate this newly freed energy into action, but there is a time for analysis and description, and a time to simply be, and I find that, right now, dwelling on where I have been does not speed my progress to where I wish to be.

For my greatest desire is to be - to be present in my life, to be open to opportunity, to respond more and react less, for energy to flow through me with light and love. I am striving to see my life in terms of gifts, not obligations, both for what is received and for what I am able to present to the Universe in turn. I want to able to write, to cherish, to love, to play, to create music, to dance, to contribute to all that is around me with the spirit of joy and blessing.

And I want to fly.