Beginnings and endings

(not, in this case, Maggi's splendid Advent book - which really is worth a read next year, if you don't know it already)
Actually, it's the theme of the Janus-like Friday Five, in which Sally invites us to list five things that we remember/treasure from last year and five to which we are looking forward in the year ahead.
I know I've done a bit of this already but nonetheless it was a real treat to think through all the loveliness that made up last year, and realise how very much I am thankful for. There could have been ten times as many happy memories on my list..

But among them, looking back I treasured
- seeing geysirs at Geysir and the arctic beauty of Iceland with Hugger Steward
- an extraordinarily bitter-sweet Easter Sunday in which I admitted a clutch of children and one dad to Holy Communion and presided for the last time at St M's...all the joy of resurrection coupled with the knowledge that there was no going back, that things would never be the same again
- the time out wandering the French Quarter of New Orleans alone and then relaxing into the welcome of the RevGals 1st Big Event
- my licensing as priest in charge of Churches on the Hill and in the Valley
- hearing the plainsong from the cloisters waft into the darkened Cathedral as I waited with the Dufflepud on Advent Sunday


I'm not a great one for forward planning (understatement of the decade, say those poor souls who have to work with me) so, though I do need to know there are a few treats dotted about the landscape of the coming year, I'm usually inclined to wander forwards with my eyes open and see what turns up. I love surprises, and life is usually full of them....but nonetheless I am quite definitely
Looking forward to
- Hattie Gandhi's graduation this summer (with many prayers that she gets the marks she hopes, so that she gets some funding to allow her to go straight on to her MA without taking a year or two to raise the fees herself)
- exploring with my two congregations where God wants us to go and how we might best to get there
- spending more time on Polyphony, now near enough to visit for days off
- long walks with the lovely Libby, whose enthusiasm for life is just exactly what you might expect from a golden retriever
- seeing more of my friends (after all, that was one of my New Year resolutions)