Lisa Smit’s Rants and Other Important Stuff

2010 – A Year That Was

January 3, 2011 at 8:56 AM (Just Stuff)

A part of me would like to dismiss 2010 and simply label it as a bad year, one of the worst years on my life. I simply can’t, for two reasons. First, there were many amazingly great things that happened for me, last year. Second, as often happens in life, good things develop from bad as lessons are learned and appropriate changes are made.

In 2010, I went on a vacation that was so amazing that I can hardly believe it really happened. My daughter, Sabrina, gave me the gift of traveling to San Francisco. I got to see an amazing city. We spent time with wonderful people. I got to meet some of her friends and she got to meet some of mine. The adventure was surreal. The best part of the trip was enjoying time spent with the amazing person she has become. The guiding principal in raising my daughters was to let them grow up and be whoever they wanted to be. Rather than guide, my role as a parent was to observe and encourage them to pursue whatever their heart led them to do. I never imagined that I would be the mother of a circus performer. Sabrina is a trapeze artist. She is a student and a teacher. Oh, she has another job, one that pays the bills, but that’s secondary to following her dreams. Labels hurt. Judgment controls. Sabrina encouraged me to fulfill one of my childhood dreams. I got to fly on the trapeze.

2010 was the year of the BP oil spill. It was a sickening experience that affected me deeply. I’m a transplant resident of the New Orleans area. It’s an area steeped in culture and the people are diverse. New Orleans residents are proud of their heritage and rightly so. I experienced the spill as a sudden crash. There are times that I love living here and times of great sadness and fear. I suffer from PTSD from having my home flooded twice and living through the aftermath of Katrina. I remember 1989, 1995 and 2005 as the worst years of my life. The oil spill was a reminder and a threat. The political bickering spilled into my personal life and my mind. It’s hard for me to love New Orleans in the summer. The heat makes my health problems nearly unbearable and the threat of a major hurricane is ominous. The threat of a hurricane bringing all of that oil ashore, Oil that killed magnificent creatures, Oil and sanctions that affected the culture and livelihood of proud Louisianians, frightened me. Fear clouded my judgment. I cannot judge.  Especially, in the summertime. Especially, in 2010.

What kind of year was 2010?  I’ve heard many people say they are glad it’s over. A few people have used the word “bipolar” to describe it.  All I can really say about it is I’m glad to have experienced it.  I’m glad it was.

It’s time to move into 2011. It’s a time to observe, a time to encourage.