2009: The Year That Eats People

That’s what my friend Joe calls it, and from what I’ve seen this year, he’s not wrong.

So much loss, so many peo­ple dead. So much change, and yet so much opportunity.

I was call­ing it “The Year Everything Changes” until I met Joe about mid-way through it, when he told me this was our last chance to get all our crap wrapped up and into the dump­ster, because every­thing we don’t get rid of this year is going to hang around and pol­lute the whole next decade.

Yeah, I’ll buy that. We all may have dif­fer­ent names for it, but we’re all feel­ing the same thing.

Inside of a year I went broke, had to rede­fine myself as an indi­vid­ual, not part of a long-term and very pub­lic mar­riage, had major surgery, and am still facil­i­tat­ing the end of life for prob­a­bly the best cat ever to grace planet earth. I lost friends and watched other friends lose their parents.

The scary shit’s far from over, and yeah, you’ve just got to keep your head down and power through it some­times. But you also have to pick your head up and open your eyes, because the world is still out there world-ing, whether you’re par­tic­i­pat­ing in it or not.

And in the midst of all the shit — and believe me I’m the last guy to tell you it’s not shit — there’s still an over­whelm­ing beauty out there.

How many truly great peo­ple did I meet this year? Joe, Agatha, Nan, Mark, Steffie, Peter, Marc, Mike – and that’s just a short list. There are a lot more, and a lot more to come. Plus I was reminded of who my friends are, and how incred­i­bly deep their love and sup­port extends.

If you’re alive and read­ing this in 2009 chances are you’re hav­ing trou­bles of your own.

Reach out. Then allow your­self to be fished for — even if it’s only catch and release.

Ruth Waytz

x-posted at Ruth’s new blog, CHAOS THEORY: INTO PRACTICE

Catch me spout­ing the provoca­tive and the insane, pretty much weekly, on The Filter. Los Angeles is my home.

A BORSCHT-IN 2009

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