Old And New

by Suzanne

At this time of the year I tend to reflect on the past as much as look forward to the future.

This past year has been an exciting one for me. My parents just celebrated their sixtiethth, (yes 6-0) wedding anniversary. Not many people can say that. Mom says, "there comes a point where you can't imagine your life without him in it." When I was home this past spring I noticed how much they touched each other. Just little pats on the shoulder, a touch of the hand to the cheek as they passed each other. This is a wonderful thing to look forward to. That peaceful companionship that comes from time spent together.

We added two more grand babies last year, so this year had us enjoying 3 little people under 3. Talk about wild and fun. There were lots of little hands to "help", lots of stories to read, lots of laughter, lots of slow walks around the neighborhood. And Christmas was a blast!! We're going to add to those numbers with one more little person in May. (I keep telling my girls that I am wayyyyyyy to young to have this many grand babies!!)

Work exploded. We had 10 new doctors bring their practices to our facility, which equalled more patients, more babies and the need for more staff! Oy-vey!! Lots of new people to meet, train and evaluate. My boss has a good eye when it comes to hiring new nurses. So far the new staff is all pretty up-to-par, the docs are settling in, and my work is consistent. Not a bad thing to have these days. Can't imagine how crazy we'll be in the coming months. (Expect me to be exhausted come the summer months!!)

This past year I crossed the milestone from unpublished to contracted author. WOW! Very exciting, indeed. I got to use my new pen name, Suzanne Ferrell. My IT designer has my website up and running. (You can check it out @ http://www.suzanneferrell.com/ . Please go to the books page and click on the link to read the opening excerpt. It's fairly PG, the excerpt, not the book.) I have a great cover and a great editor. Hopefully we'll have an exact release date after the first of the year, so I can go from contracted author to PUBLISHED author!

I finally gave in to technology and asked for a Kindle for Christmas. Now before y'all start booing and chucking books at my head for crossing into the darker side of e-readers, let me tell you this wasn't an easy decision. I adore books. Have for the past 40 something years. Nothing is better than holding a book in my hand, letting the characters draw me in,  turning the pages as I get lost in another world. But several author friends have been gushing over their e-readers and how much they love them. So I decided to check it out. With the new Wi-Fi/3G features I can now access the web from an e-reader, as well as download my own WIP's to make notes on while away from home. So, I got a Kindle. So far, I've enjoyed it and am looking forward to using it in the year to come.

So what has you reflecting on and looking forward to in the coming year? This is not a resolution question, but what you'd like to see happen for you this year? Got a trip planned? A big anniversary? A wedding? A Baby? New job? New book? What great milestone did you reach this past year? Was it good? Or are you glad to see the last of 2010?