It’s a wrap!

I am a freak about sending Christmas cards. Every year I send over 50 cards to people I don’t keep in touch with on a regular basis, but that I still want to know about, even if only once a year. This year I won’t get to send one card. I am broke and when I left my job, I didn’t do a good job of copying my address book file, so most of them are gone.

For quite a few years I’ve wanted to write one of those Christmas letters, you know the kind, the ones that give the reader a wrap-up of the year that’s nearing it’s end. I normally start the letter and stop after a paragraph realizing that a wrap-up of my routine life was boring, even to me.

2010 was a bit different. My life was nothing if not a roller coaster of ups and downs with twist and turns that often made me nauseous.

I spent a birthday without the company of friends and no way to really celebrate in the style I was accustomed. A quick and quiet dinner with family was just one of the smallest adjustments I would be making as I began the third month of my life in Puerto Rico.

I hated to admit it, but I was missing certain aspects of winter. My annual snowboarding trip, ice skating with my students at Millenium Park, and cute winer boots—weird, I know!

March afforded me the opportunity to take a trip to California to see three of my wonderful friends. We stayed at a house right on Newport Beach, and only three days into my visit, I tripped and sprained my ankle so severely that it ended any fun I might have had. I had to stay in the house, while my friends enjoyed drinks and conversation with hot strangers. Traveling the 12-hours from Cali back to Puerto Rico was an adventure in patience.

I more than made up for the lack of fun at the end of my Cali trip with Easter weekend at a house near the beach in PR with family. We left Thursday, hit three beaches, enjoyed cool breezes, games and music at night and relaxed with the sun as our constant companion.

Right around the same time, came the discovery of the site that would be a catalyst in changing my life and my perspective on the future: Being Latino and the Being Latino blog.

The following months brought those aforementioned twist and turns that made me nauseous and are much too personal to share with anyone who wasn’t part of them, including making the decision to return to Chicago.

This all of brings me to today, a cold day in December 2010. I am back in my hometown of Chicago and today, a dear friend shared a quote that describes my feelings better than I can.

‎“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered” ~Nelson Mandela~

I have much on my mind and even more on my plate. I am a contributor to examiner.com as well as juntoswordwide.com. I’ve started my own writing and editing venture with Write Media and discovered that no only do I enjoy photography, but I am actually kind of good at it.

But that’s just part of it. I am in line for this great job (keep your fingers crossed), I’m involved in quite a few community projects AND yesterday I was named Executive Vice President of Blogger Relations for Being Latino, where I started as a contributor, then moved to staff writer, to managing editor before this current promotion.

One year ago if you asked me about my life, I would’ve shrugged my shoulders befuddled because I was truly without direction.

Today, I shrug my shoulders in amazement because I am on a clear path to endless possibilities.