"I Will Rise Yet Again in 2010"

I had forgotten all about this picture of myself from last February's Zanzibar adventure, but I absolutely LOVE it!

It reminds me to embrace my playful side. It reminds me not to obsess over how I look in a bathing suit. It reminds me to have fun as much as humanly possible, as often as humanly possible. It reminds me to smile more often, as much at myself as anything else.

And it also reminds me to keep popping back up to the surface, no matter how often the pressures and frustrations of life try and hold me under water. Before I got on that plane Christmas Eve, I felt like my joy, and my spirit, and my energy had all been corked, or muffled. I desperately needed to let loose and get back to myself again. I'd like to think that for the most part, this picture embodies the essence of my spirit, and that it sends me a critically important message.

No matter how hard life gets, still I rise.

No matter how low I get, I'll make it back to the heights.

No matter how dark the skies, there is usually a rainbow behind the clouds.

This picture helped me develop my New Year's motto.

"I will rise yet again in 2010." After all, you just can't keep a good woman down.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!