Looking Back, Part One

Last year, about this time, I created this collage. I was like the bear in this picture. I thought I was well-hidden and protected from trouble. Trouble found me anyway, or found my child, and I was forced out of denial. I don't think there is anything that can hurt worse than watching your child struggle with their own demons, whatever those demons may be, and knowing you can't do it for them.
"Balance is a fleeting state we are always trying to maintain", that's what those words in the middle say." It's been a tough year, but I think my child is getting his groove back, and he's walking with a graceful equilibrium. And I, for one, am grateful.
Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, we both had what we needed all along to find our way through, though neither one of us would have believed that at the beginning of last year. It feels good to start the new year with renewed faith, and hope.