Feliz Año Nuevo

I woke up yesterday thinking - Feliz Año Nuevo. I would have said I said it out loud and you would have thought I went looneytoons. No, it was definitely inside my head because I remember my eyes rolling up as I was trying to think what order the words needed to said.

More to the point. At 12:00:01 AM, January 1, 2009, I could no longer say "last year" and "mi Camino' in the same sentence. That was a sad realization for my head and heart. It seems so yesterday and so long ago at the same time. It was surreal to me as the date approached to start. It was surreal when I was walking day after day. And it is surreal to think that I did it at all. Except....

When January 1, 2009 I hear from Harald and Joop wishing me a happy new year. And my dear friends beckon me to their homelands for a visit.

Joop, bless his poetic, sweet heart wrote: "Since we have met there has not been a single day that I did not think of you....."

And this is why whistfully I retreat from "last year" and enthusiastically embrace "soon" and look forward to 2012 when the "gang" all converges on Santiago once again to rejoice in our "saintly" friendships.