2009...perhaps the most difficult year of the last five.  Five years ago I got married to the man that I love and choose everyday.  Four years ago we had a beautiful little boy.  Four years ago we bought our own business.  Being married, being a mom, being a business owner are all challenges, but more than that they are great opportunities to overcome and have great victories.  2009 proved to be a year full of challenges on every front.  My marriage oddly enough had few new challenges.  I am grateful that through financial difficulties Ricardo and I did not have a single...not one argument over money.  We were united and when one of us felt hopeless the other was always there to bring hope.  I see it as an incredible blessing that through our "poverty" of 2009 the riches of our union and partnership were really evident.  I put "poverty" in quotations because though we lived on little, we still had more than 90% of the world, and puts it into perspective for both of us.

Orion, our son, had a tough year with his health.  He developed asthma and his eczema and allergies were very hard to control.  Through it all though, his smiling face was everpresent.  I discovered a few things toward the end of the year that have helped him, and he has been doing so much better.  When we get home we will continue to try new holistic approaches to help him.  I think of parents who have children battling cancer and other terrible diseases and it makes me so grateful to have a super healthy baby boy.

Our business started off so fantastic when we first bought it and a number of events like the writer's strike, the impending actor's strike and of course the economic downturn changed the face of our industry.  By 2009 our nice six figure salary had wittled down to "will it reach five figures"?  We learned how to live on very little and were amazed at how we were able to do it.  Little "miracles" kept coming in the mail, like a nice tax return for the first time ever, or a settlement from a class action law suit from a job Ricardo left over 4 years ago, gift cards from amazing friends that are blessings themselves.  Alas we made it through the year.  We kept our doors open, and wer are excited to see the success that we will be granted in 2010.

We have learned that the right life partner will be witness to the struggles, the joys and the victories forever.  That the gift of life that we created through the amazing blessing of our son is to be cheriched and appreciated.  We learned that our son is on loan to us and it is our responsibility to raise him to be a man of honor and wisdom.  We learned that we have incredible friends and family who will lay down their lives for us, and us for them.  If I felt alone for one instant last year, I found reasurrance that "alone" is a state of mind.  I will strive in 2010 to show my gratitude for the lessons and opportunities we had in 2009.

Here is to an amazing Year full of blessings and love.