Food, friendship and tea!

It’s 2020, and I’m already looking back. I have seen an abundance of “No looking back! 2020, I’m coming for you!” posts and memes on social media. Yeah, lol. I also see a lot of gym membership renewals that won’t see the light of the spring. I’m totally comfortable with looking back at the past decade to inform my 2020. The last 10 years were some of the best, and worst, years of my life. There’s a summary of my 2019 if you’d like to read on the last year in my blog post, “My 2019: Achievements and Failures contest entry - reflecting on milestones and miles traveled!”.

@vermillionfox, @guthrie and I spent New Year’s Eve with friends during the day, and @roadscape during the evening. I was introduced to Dominion! Another card game that I’ve heard @lovejoy mention in relation to my love of Magic: The Gathering. We all shared traditional food, tea and one another’s company. It’s symbolic of the fondest I’ve come to know in Minnesota over these last ten years. It was a necessary chance to decompress from everything leading up to Christmas. Around 10:30p.m., we got @guthrie home in time to watch the ball drop in Times Square on our new projector. @vermillionfox and I watched an episode of The Witcher and went to bed shortly after midnight, CST. A start to the New Year.

This morning, we all slept in. @guthrie’s closet has turned in to a little boy’s wonderland, complete with a small pillow bed, five blankets and comforters, an orb light, an Amazon Echo, and small refrigerator stocked with cold drinks. He sits in there and plays his iPad. Once we were all up, we had lunch. @guthrie was dropped off at his half-brothers’ and @vermillionfox and I met @roadscape at @darkb4dawn’s Shadow Talk event. A collaborative conversation amongst 15 friends [new and old] with plenty of tea and vegan snacks.

The discussion surrounded inspiration from a Jungian concept of the shadow-self. These are the kind of gatherings and events that remind me how fortunate I am to have moved to Minneapolis because there never has and never will be this kind of consortium discussion in Scranton, PA, where I grew up. It was also a timely subject as I’m embarking on terrifying new ventures with virtually no assurances of success. I’m also doing this all just shy of turning 40. We all aired our aspirations for the next year, and decade, and faced our insecurities with insights from present company.

I feel fulfilled and enriched to have such good friends. I realized that somewhere along the lines, I became friends with remarkable, unique people. @mada and @lovejoy, just casual “regulars” at @caffetto. Through them, I found Steemit. Through Steemit, I met @roadscape and @darkb4dawn. It’s been the most amazing chain-reaction and I’m grateful for this life. Really, this was one of the best New Year’s I can remember. I’m happy to document it all here on the blockchain. Thanks for reading.