Believe

The word of the year, chosen by Rick Blunt, is Believe. He wrote,

"It encompasses... heart, soul, faith, commitment, perseverance, transcendence, rejuvenation... it stands for everything you want to be and want to become... it what you have to do to make anything happen... believe... in good... believe in overcoming the bad... Nothing can happen without Belief. Love begins with a belief... anything of value depends on who and what you Believe in it... value comes from belief. And Believing in something can help you achieve anything... because if you don't believe nothing can be accomplished."

I love this word and I hope I love this year just as much. It certainly started wonderfully. I spent New Years Eve and midnight in Staunton. We started the evening with Rick in SantaLand Diaries at the ASC (amazing!), and then headed over to the Baja Bean. The lead-up to New Years was spent listening to the music of The Findells while 'Abigail-Dancing' with Zan, Lys, Zach, Jen, and Hunter. I don't think I've ever had so much fun at a New Years Eve. I wore my cute new shoes and a black dress with my cute new mustard-yellow cardigan, so I felt pretty and confident (despite the fact that the 'Abigail-dance' is my best dance move). At midnight they passed out champagne and we counted down and Zan and I kissed and everyone sang Auld Lang Syne, but just the first verse over and over even though they had passed out the lyrics to all of the verses. I called my parents and texted some of my friends Happy New Years! and I got texts saying Happy New Years! and I forgot about the time difference in the Midwest and texted Emily, Christina, and Dana at my midnight. Oops.

Returning home around 1:00 AM or so, we settled down to chocolates and the beginning of the New Years Day Twilight Zone Marathon, then to bed for to prepare for New Years Day! Zan's family always has a big New Years Day brunch, so we awoke early-ish to prepare for that-- wonderful home-cooked food, mimosas, educated conversation about theatre and history, and to top it all off, we visited the baby lambs born that morning and the day before!!! Adorable! We all wore our Believe shirts, and at the end of my stay we exchanged Christmas gifts and listened to Zach play his guitar, and I was sad to leave but my mother was heading towards Williamsburg with Sphinx. Hooray!

The day ended with fettuccine, a warm kitty, and NCIS/Twilight Zone with my mother. Fantastic. Happy New Year, everyone! May 2011 bring us all happiness.

BELIEVE!

(Photo by Zan)