This morning, the first of 2015, came bright and clear and really, really cold.  Cold enough that I had to return to bed after the first stoking of the fire, before working up the gusto to leave the warm sheets and make coffee   This cold morning was the first back in the dry cabin, after three weeks of luxury living in t

Falling in deep snow on Christmas day.
Soft, forgiving, beautiful, and fun. 

he farmhouse while the tenants were away (luxury = hot running water, an efficient wood stove  and a shower, right there in the same building where we sleep!).  The day before had been another hard one, in a hard year, really, of trying to build, not just a house, but the life we are looking for. The start of 2014 saw us just beginning to move to this 10-acre farm in the Bitterroot, still trying to understand and recover from the disappointment of losing our land-access agreement with a landowner in Missoula, and trying to muster the gumption to start fresh.  2014 was, I have to admit, a very hard year.  

And so, maybe it was, in the cold morning cabin, at the start of another year that is without doubt going to stretch and pull and challenge...maybe it was the perfect time to see a friend post this to her Facebook wall as a happy new year greeting: 

 “I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.
Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.
So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.
Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it.
Make your mistakes, next year and forever.”
― Neil Gaiman

My first thought was that wow, I certainly did that in the last year:  made mistakes, tried new things, learned, lived, pushed myself.  It's growth, and that is uncomfortable.  But it's also living, and it's not over yet.  Here's to more calm and sanity in 2015, but also to embracing continued growth, and more mistakes, all in the pursuit of that custom, hand-built life.