Man did I have a crappy year in the realm of “accepting Sandy for the person she is and appreciating her talents and goodness”. I managed to keep being around superficial people and insecure people and just plain old jerks. I did have some very good and thoughtful people in my life too, so there is always silver lining if you look closely. I guess what I found out is that there were things that I thought might be important, but they weren’t. I defined my boundries and discovered true friends. The most important part of the journey for me has been those little painful moments where I realized that I have the self confidence and inner strength to see peoples faults and judgements and ignore them. There are painful injustices in our culture that revolve around judging people by their youthful appearance,race,gender,age,perceived financial success,fitness,education, blah,blah while ignoring their experience, judgement and wisdom. I think I figured out what I was seeking to discover.