I have been inspired by Elayna Alexandra's post on Skirt.com: ~2009~ a year in review. So here is mine.

January
Jobless for the first time in my life. I created this South Park version of me to memorialize how I spent my time.

February
A former board member from the organization that let me go, hooks me up with another organization that could use some financial help. My consulting life begins.

March
A traditionally difficult month for me (see Goodbye to March), but this year included a fun trip to Las Vegas for a cousin's wedding. I also started writing online as an experiment for my final school project (see March Archive).

April
My part-time consulting gig becomes a part-time job (no benefits, but a regular paycheck). I also start helping a previous employer from almost five years earlier. Emotional down-turn brings out attempts at poetry. (April archive) Scary.

May
No blogging. A partner of the accounting firm formerly used by the organization that let me go recommends me for another part-time job. They hire me as a consultant, and I start the week of their annual audit. I begin working full-time hours again (between three different locations), and start panicking about how to finish my final study at school.

June
Work only two jobs while finishing my culminating study, "A Writer's Journey."

July
Last visit to Vermont: Montpelier campus of Union Institute & University. I deliver a one-hour presentation to the academic community. At graduation my father hands me my undergraduate diploma, twenty years after dropping out of college due to hospitalization for Acute Depression. Yes, we really did it!

August
Just read my post It Had to be Done to understand what August was like for me. It was the trough that followed the peak of being an official college graduate. (At least I retained my sense of humor.)

September
Friends from school come to visit for a weekend. We attend the season opener of the DC Rollergirls. I am reminded how the depth of my soul longs to be a jammer. (What's a jammer? Have you watched The Basics of Flat Track Roller Derby, yet?) I am sitting with a Rollergirl from Rocky Mountain Roller Girls and pelt her with questions that she cheerfully answers. Oh, yeah. My mother moves from Las Vegas back to the DC metro area. Blog writing increases: September Archive.

October
While crazy-busy at both my jobs, I learn that training camp to become a DC Rollergirl starts in early November. I become a different kind of crazed. I decide to turn my blog (and writing) to a specific topic: Roller Derby!

November
This nonathletic middle-aged woman becomes an athlete. Yes, I said it! I spend all free time and nearly every weeknight skating or volunteering for the league. I have something serious and physical to commit to, and I love it! This major transition is not without difficulties at home.

December
I feel different. My body is changing. I even walk differently. Have you ever noticed how we girls are taught to keep our legs together, always? When I take my "derby stance" (squatting on skates, back straight, arms at sides bent at the elbow) my knees come together. When I walk, my legs are not shoulder-width apart. They aren't even hip-width apart. I have an ingrained habit of putting one foot very nearly in front of the other. I have to actually unlearn some things about my idea of "womanly" to become a rollergirl. I was always the girly-girl, and I never learned how to throw a ball (or catch one for that matter). I still intend to stay girly-girl, but I also intend to become tough. That's why I have chosen the nomiker RollerWomyn. It's not easy to teach an older girl new tricks, but the first week of 2010 I intend to show how much I've learned. (My first safety skills assessment was postponed due to all that snow that dumped on us.)

2010 will be a year of many changes. I can only hope to ride the currents as smoothly as I can. Keep faith in a plan greater than my own. Believe life is unfolding exactly as it should be. Enjoy the laughter and honor the tears.

Thank you my friends, family, and those I haven't even met, for being in my life, supporting me, and challenging me. I am grateful for you all!

View Original Post at robinlbernstein.blogspot.com

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• Skating, Roller Derby, Sports, SportsPLUS, Inspiration, Personal