Only in the leap...

If someone were to ask me to draw what 2007 and 2008 felt like to me, it would come out like this:




I have found the year 2008 to be the "Leap Year" for me, and I don't mean the kind that tacks an extra day onto the month of February.

I am combining the years 2007 and 2008 for the simple reason that at this same time last year, life was much too fast paced to have truly reflected on what the year 2007 had presented before me.

What I mean by leap year is that I have had to relearn to trust myself and my judgement based on a newly found personal freedom.

I have had to learn what kind of person I am made of and re-examine that which made me who I am today, from people who have seemingly crossed my path seemingly not by coincidence and events that have shaped and redefined me as an individual.

I have had to learn that I no longer have to be under someone else's control.

I have had to learn what it truly takes to be a mother.

I have had to redirect my energies to putting my career back on track.

I have had to rediscover Myself.

In doing and passing through all of these different phases in my life, I found that I am much stronger in so many ways. Ways that surprise even me. And even when it seemed likely that I would fail, I ended up succeeding far more than I had ever expected of myself.

I am certainly far better educated and much more wary of my surroundings and the people I choose to know.

I would hope in this knowledge I would never again made the same mistake I did in 2004.

I have a list of New Year's Resolutions, though you may find them not to be the kind that involve a treadmill and a bonfire of bon-bons and sticky buns. This list I have been putting together for almost two months now, based on the challenges and tests that have been presented to me, and what pearls of wisdom I have gleaned from them.

They are:

1. I will forgive freely, but will not put my trust in people until I am certain of their inner truths.
2. I will honor my inner strength and not allow myself to be dogged by past worries.
3. No longer will I live in the past; I will plan for a future, but I will live for the moment.
4. I will worry less and trust my judgement more.
5. I will lock away everything that has been, and look forward to what will come.
6. I will never retreat from my goals and dreams. Others may run with me if you choose, but beware: run quickly, for I shall leave you in my dust.
7. I will stop running from what I believe is Truth and embrace it for all to see.
8. I will stop worrying what others think of me, for I love me for who I am very much.
9. I will hold dear those who have helped me along the way.
10. I will never surrender to fear again.
11. I will continue to love freely, but with caution and reservation.

And finally...

12. I will never deny who I am, what I believe, nor *stop drawing* ever again.

That last one brings me to tears. So I'm going to stop now.

Suffice it to say it has been an emotional year.

But as I finish this last post for 2008, I also want to impart this pearl of wisdom to you. Take it or leave it, but it's the motto we McKeevers live by:

Life does not intend for us to arrive at our grave perfectly preserved and well kept; but rather, to skid in broadside, broken and badly bruised, yet loudly proclaiming, "Wow! What a ride!"

Selah, huzzah, woo hoo, and whoop-dee-fricken'-deeeww to the New Year...

Welcome aboard, 2009!

-Barb the Cartoonist