Reflecting (on New Year’s Eve)

Karma kisses me on the arse.

For well over a year now a friend of mine has joked that karma keeps kissing me on the arse. While she handles money and work worries, and has cared for the dying only to find this year that she herself has cancer, I cruise along with a blessed life.

For me, 2014 really began near the middle of the year with an overseas trip discovering New Orleans, Budapest, Vienna and Tokyo, while rediscovering New York.

Feeling like a real writer.

The main purpose of this trip was to be part of the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival, a GLBT event held each year in New Orleans. This was the first time I had been a participant at a writer’s festival, giving me confidence in myself as a novelist by mixing with my North American peers.

New Publisher.

I’ve also been blessed by being signed to a new publisher who released my second book while re-releasing my first. Their professional and friendly manner has been more that appreciated this year.

New milestones.

My partner and I clocked up twenty-four years together, while the community radio program we co-produce clocked up eleven years on air. But after such a long run we decided to finally give the show a rest a couple of weeks ago, broadcasting The Rhythm Divine for the last time.

Plus I turned fifty, and was treated with a new espresso machine and tickets to see the brilliant Tori Amos play with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

But…

There was a funeral this year. And this morning we received news of a friend who has a tumour.

On top of this an amazing individual passed away this morning. She was my partner’s aunt and was also an amazing story teller. As an Aboriginal woman she had great tales of stealing apples as a child from farmyards just to have food in her stomach. Plus there were stories of her days as a young servant in full French maid attire to a politician and his family (who she had to keep from her bedroom by locking her door at night). She also claimed to have seen a bunyip.

I always planned to interview her on video so her stories would be preserved. Sadly I’ve now missed my opportunity.

Happy New Year…

So I guess what I’m trying to say is whether it’s been a year where karma kissed you on the arse, or kicked you up the butt, make sure you share 2015 with those who give you good vibes while you care for those who are less fortunate.

The only way everyone has a chance at a happy year is if all of us pay our good karma forward and remind those dear to us that they are loved.