Something rare, something special

I remember riding in the car with my mother several years ago. It was just the two of us and we were traveling on the winding road heading down to the Buffalo River, where I spent most my summers during my childhood. The windows were down, the wind was blowing our hair all around, and Nanci Griffith was blaring on the stereo. The meaning of the song wasn’t particularly important, but the chorus was “once in a very blue moon.” I remember asking my mother what that meant, and she told me that it was a rare, special occasion. I learned later that it was really nothing more than a second full moon in a month. Either way, I grew up hearing my mother echo the phrase “once in a blue moon.”

Tomorrow is the last day of 2009. This year began with me being broken down to the very center of my soul. I rebuilt my life. I survived the absolute worst thing that has ever happened to me, and I’m a better person for having gone through it. Now, I will spend the last night of this year- and the first night of the next year- with a man who made me believe something that I had turned my back on. When I met him, I didn’t want to be in love. Not then, not ever again. I was determined to stay standing on my own 2 feet. But then, he walked into my life. He made me believe that I could be in love again. He made me believe that I could rely on someone to be there, and to stay. He’s proven it, too. I’ve shoved him away twice now. Each time was because I had the potential to be hurt badly. I figured that if I pushed him away, he couldn’t just walk away from me and leave me behind brokenhearted. But something strange happened. Both times, he came back. He came back and he didn’t leave. And now, I’ll be ringing in the New Year with him tomorrow night. And this year, something rare and special will happen. The New Year will be born under a blue moon. So, cheers! Here’s to faith, love, and hope.