Can I Be a Cliche for a Day?

Like zillions of other bloggers out there, I'll wish everyone a Happy New Year and reflect on the year that was and hope for the year that will be.

What a crazy year, full of emotional ups and downs, ending on a significant down as a lunatic attempted to burn our house down (with us in it), and we were saved by the angel on my sleeping shoulder who woke me up before any significant damage was done. I now sit here still depressed and anti-social, but putting up a good front, I think. It was so nice to be out of this house for a couple of days and not lie awake in the night watching the windows for any sign of something strange. But now we're back, and life goes on. I hope I can sleep tonight.

But I smiled as I read my posting from June 15th of this year, written minutes after I arrived home from my first shift at The Mustard Seed. I have gone down there faithfully every Tuesday for over six months - nothing has kept me from the drive downtown to meet and greet the friendly folks of our inner city. I can hardly believe how I have been transformed over the last six months; I never would have believed how close I would become with these people, many of whom I still don't know their names (Is it rude to ask now that I've been talking with them for so long? I'm not sure.). I sat on the couch New Year's Eve, wishing I was at the party with them, serving coffee and snacks, and ringing in 2011 on a hopeful note. I am counting down the minutes to Tuesday when I can see them again. I wish I could be there more than just one night a week, but I have to be grateful to be there at all. And to think that I almost didn't go - it was only because a local Senior's Centre didn't call me back that I decided to send my application to The Mustard Seed.

I wonder what will happen this year.....last I talked to Darryl, he and Monica were hoping to move into an apartment today - they have been homeless for over six months. I hope they are sleeping in their very own warm bed tonight. Will my Vietnamese buddy quit smoking this year - he told me if I brought him candy canes he would try to quit. Will I finally learn the names of all the people I talk to, instead of calling them names like "Vietnamese buddy", "Guy with the thermos", "Young guy with the crazy hair". Maybe that will be my resolution - to learn the names of at least two community members each week. Stewart will help me, I'm sure - he knows everyone!

January 1 - a day to start all things fresh and to forget the bad times of the past year. I have faithful optimisn that it's going to be a great year - not just for me, but for those who need a bit of a lift. Only God knows......