This year can be summed up short and sweet: it’s been the most rich and colorful yet. Rich with new experience and people, colorful with new sights. Last New Year’s Day I was in England sitting around a dining room table with some friends and we were discussing New Year’s goals. My goal was to visit a new place each month. With friends and loved ones, I was able to visit Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, the Czech Republic, and different gems within England. Pictures from each of these trips can be found in the Archives of this blog. My family visited England in June and it was pure bliss. We hired a car and traveled to the delicious little nooks of England, including the Lake District (I am irrevocably smitten) and Wiltshire where our ancestors lived. It was absolutely gorgeous and absolutely surreal to traverse the same streets, homes, and shops they likely frequented. This experience helped to solidify my desire to write my thesis about my great-great-grandmother (Ruth May Fox) who spent her childhood in Wiltshire, and later immigrated to Utah as a Mormon pioneer in 1867. I returned to Salt Lake City in July to complete research and write my thesis. I did most of my research at the University of Utah and LDS Church Archives; it was a fantastic, fulfilling experience
Right after I finished my thesis I went south and ran my parent’s Bed and Breakfast (http://www.osborneinn.com/) in rural Spring City, Utah. I was glad for a peaceful change of scene and for the time to mentally unwind while efforts were redirected into a different mode of work. I made many new friends in Spring City and was able to get involved in the community in empowering ways. It was fun. In December we closed up the B&B for the winter season and now I’m in Alpena, Michigan where my parent‘s live. It is a mini-Narnia (minus the talking animals and wicked witch…as far as I know). Snow swallows up every inch of earth and the abundant evergreen trees are clothed in a wardrobe of white.
So, plans for 2008? I received the results back from my thesis in November and those who marked it encouraged me to compile Ruth May Fox's life-writings for publishing. For the month of January, I will be preparing manuscripts and proposals for various publishers. Hopefully it will be fruitful! In February I will be going back to Europe to visit friends in Germany and the UK! I can hardly wait…it will be so good to go back! I have indefinite plans beyond February; they will materialize as different variables unfold. I feel that 2008 will be full of good things, even though I am not sure what it will bring. Life is wonderful. I wish you all the sweetest and best year in 2008. Lots of Love.
