Starting Anew

There have been a few times in my life recently where I felt like I got to start over. One was January 1st of this year, I just had the best feeling about 2010 and was so excited to get started. Have everything ahead of me. I felt like the end of 2009 was shutting a door on parts of my life that would be gone forever, and 2010 I could be whatever I wanted to be, and do whatever I wanted to do. 2010 was going to be my year!
So far it has been a great year, musically everything is happening right according to plan. I have performed in Denver, California, and on a cruise. I have sang the National Anthem for the Salt Lake Bees, and the Orem Owlz (twice). I started writing and recording my own songs, and have finished three of my own so far with great responses. I have plans to record on a CD next month that will be put my name on the map in the LDS industry. I don't think there has been a week this year that I didn't sing for something. I remember thinking when I first started singing that my goal wasn't to become famous, or to be rich, my goal was to have singing be a part of my every day life, and I am there. I have made it! NOW my goal is to be rich and famous ;).
I work at a job that for the first time in my life, everything is great. I love the job, I love the people I work with, I make enough money to support myself and my goals. It is a wonderful thing to go into work each day and enjoy being there. I spend the majority of the day laughing and having a good time. I feel like I am good at my job, and for the first time feel like that is being noticed and acknowledged. I feel like an asset. I know that especially these days, a job like this is hard to come by, I am lucky to have a job at all, let alone one I love so much.
I have a family that on a regular basis make me wonder what I ever did to be so lucky. Parents that support me and love me unconditionally, that would do anything for me and my happiness, and really for everyone. I have siblings who look out for me and though a lot of their time is spent teasing me (and each other) they are some of the funniest people in my life, and when we are together we just laugh the whole time. I have a family to brag about, and I do.
I have amazing friends. I have been so lucky in my life to have several very close friends. Each year, due to my friends getting married, I feel like I have to make an entirely new group of friends so that I can have single people in my life, and each year I do. Not only do I make new friends, but I make BEST friends. People that influence my life, and have such a huge impact on me. People that I don't know what I would do without.
This year is no different. I have felt for a while that it was time for a transition. Another point in my life where I felt like I needed to start anew. I have been making transitions in my life and the people I have met have been amazing. I have met people as recently as in the last month, who I feel really close to, that I bonded with almost immediately. I have made friends just since the beginning of the year, who quite literally I spend all my free time with. People who have influenced my life in ways that I desperately needed to be influenced.
Looking back on all the years and all the people in my life that mean so much to me, how they were placed there, why they were placed there when they were, tells me that nothing is coincidence. I have been put through the ringer a lot in my life, but I have always had someone to go to. Someone to make it better, someone to make it worth it. I am so lucky that way.
I once had a cousin tell me that he has never had a best friend. He has a lot of friends but no one that he could say he was really close to. I have several, and make more every year. I know I couldn't have gotten to where I am today without them. In that part of my life, I have always been lucky, when everything else seemed bleak I always had a best friend.
This post didn't end the way I had anticipated. I planned on just talking about starting over, but I realized that when I start over, I am always dependant on my friends to help me and support me. I realize not everyone has friends like that, and I just felt like I should let them know how grateful I am, and that it doesn't go unrecognized.
Thanks to all my best friends(related and not) for getting me to where I am.