Dear Diary,

It is the end of the year. I will try to be brief in sharing my development over these three-hundred, sixty-five days.

I have earned double last year's income, both with the frequency of new clients and with the raise in rates.
I have graduated a two-year student.
I considered buying a historic hall, a former church, or a beautiful earth-friendly building.
I considered buying a house in Steamboat Springs.
I officially became a school.

I have found some time for the homeschooling community, and am not sure where this segment of my life will take me; I so prefer solitude.
I have taken on the education of a high school student on the fast track to becoming a pop star in a foreign country.
I have spent more money this year than any other on education.

I have made a friend of a family that gets along with mine.

I have spent three separate months attempting to write in an organized fashion.
I have written very little overall.

I have become a refuge and rescuer to people who need deeper than fair-weather friends.
I have been a home, a ride, a source of income, a shoulder to cry on and manual labor.

I have gained four dogs and lost three.

I have been to court twice, once for myself and once for a friend, one for each of the above two causes.

I have lost my grandfather to suicide--a controlling man of ailing health, he was also in control of his death.
I have retouched with my grandfather's family, and discovered he is not my blood relative.
I have paid off debts due to his generous bequeathal.
I am grateful, and I miss him.

I tread the ground I grew up upon for the first time in many many years.
I touched the trees, breathed the air, tasted the water, smelled the rain.
I let my sisters play with my hair because it made them happy to doll me up so.

I have played no music whatsoever.
I barely touched a wind instrument, fingered a keyboard, hummed a tune of my own devices.

I constructed a shed and deconstructed a fence.

I have made gifts, a schedule, and progress.

I look to the coming calendar year.

I see the second wedding anniversary, eight years after the original.
I'm thinking, New Orleans.

I see a library for home school curriculum.

I see more times my friends may need me, and hope there are no or few times I may need them.

I see my sister deployed to active duty, hopefully stateside, potentially in Europe, possibly in Afghanistan.

I see a house with fewer things, and more of the things we need.
I see new floors, a remodeled kitchen, and a proper artspace for the artist.

I see a repaired and properly tuned piano.

I am hoping to see visits from far away family and friends.

I hope to see another 365 days, plus one.
Happy New Year to all