Happy New Year

Wishing all of our friends, family and community partners a year of smooth sailing.

These last few years, right around this time, we hear many people expressing relief at the passing of the old year, followed by hopes that “this year just has to be better”! And while there certainly have been countless blissings this past year, in many ways our lives continue to be challenged in an increasingly uncertain world. If we allow ourselves to acknowledge this palpable shift, what then might we dare to hope for in 2023? For us, our intention for the new year is already manifesting, and it’s this: resilience. This is no small thing, friends. We’ve heard the old adage that suggests that adversity builds character. By now we have so much character that we could give Disney a run for their money!

When we pause to reflect, it is our ability to come together and overcome hardship that we remember most; not the squalls we endured to get here, but rather, the safe shelter we have made for one another. We know that we can’t control the natural world, but we can learn to adapt and to evolve, to not only meet its demands, but to harness its power to flourish. Members at the Academy certainly know a thing or two about that! 

An old Buffy St. Marie song contains the lyrics, “I was an oak, now I’m a willow and I can bend.” May we all be willows, able to thrive and adjust to the changing winds. There will always be wind. May 2023 be the year that we learn to sail.