It’s raining this morning….go figure, as we end the second wettest year in Atlanta’s recorded history. It’s hard to argue with the notion of climate change, since 2007 was the second DRIEST year on that same scale. Just when we learned how to master gardening in times of drought, with the requisite rain barrels, 5 gallon buckets in our showers to catch “gray water,” xeriscaping our gardens, etc., we have found ourselves with more water than our gardens know how to absorb. The rosemary that has thrived for the past few years out next to the street is chronically soft and dark, but the ground in the stepchild garden feels more like soil than terra cotta and the hydrangeas that have struggled for a few seasons are visibly bursting with buds right now!

I’m not unhappy that it’s raining, since I’ve been under the weather (no pun intended) for the past week, and this forces me to stay inside and get some things done. The Christmas greens are beyond dry and crispy on the mantel and there’s a hunk of candy cane stuck to the carpet, so a day like this is perfect for getting things out to the compost pile. I’m going to start majorly redoing some of the containers at the penthouse garden later this month, so my most strenuous activity today will probably be going there to take some exact measurements and photos of what will get changed.

The reporters on television this morning were chatting about the changes that this past decade brought, and expectations for the next one. Since 2010 is when I’ll hit 50, it all seems somehow more applicable this year. I’m finally at that age of saying, “Where did the time go?” while also being able to maturely consider what I want to accomplish in the years to come.

For me personally, this first decade of the millenium has been pretty awesome! We relocated to Atlanta, I look forward to going to work every day to do something I love, and I think I have more balance all the way around. Frank and I have developed a relationship over the past many years in which we don’t take one another for granted, but delight in having been together for so long. I have much more laughter (and laugh lines) in my life, and feel that I have a better sense of what matters in the grand scheme of my life (if there really is one……) I’m okay having a body shape that is more like “The Barefoot Contessa” than the gardener on “Desperate Housewives.”

Perhaps the greatest learning in my life of this past decade has been my acceptance of life as it is, and my realization that I CHOOSE to be happy or not. I certainly have goals, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t also celebrate the amazing state of the present. It’s raining, I’m sick, my house needs to be cleaned……and life is unbelievably FABULOUS!

Have an incredible New Year!