Colour Me Clean in 2015

As fate would have it, or karma, or whatever's operating overtime in my life right now, I had a crappy Christmas, both eve and day, and an unfortunately similar New Year's Eve.  There was lots of unexpected conflict and barely-suppressed anger and resentment, and I wasn't even with my relatives enjoying the usual dysfunctional family Christmas. (I mean that in a good way - the way all families have no- holds-barred holiday get-togethers.) I thought since I'd be spending time with friends rather than relatives, certain protocols of behaviour would be in place.  Boy oh boy I sure got that wrong.
So here I am on New Year's Day writing on my little web in the hope that I can shift gears and reset the tone for 2015.  As this day goes, so does the whole year, and so far I guess I'm doing well enough to offset a wacko festive season and an awkward New Year's Eve.  Writing a blurb for my blog is a good start, because it denotes work in my field, but it was all the stuff I did before I sat down at my computer this morning that turned things around before it was too late.
To secure a fresh start, I had to wash away all the crap that's come down for the last week or so.  So I did.  I cleaned the bathroom, which included the toilet bowl and shower stall.  I scrubbed and rubbed and watched my anger get flushed down the toilet and flow down the drain.  Then I washed myself.  After that I threw out the garbage from my waste baskets and cleaned the front hallway entrance of the house.
The wyrd* thing about all this is that certain events in my life, which I've written about in the previous two blurbs, were eerily portentous of the cleaning and purging rituals I've undertaken on this first day of the year. After all, I never get interviewed to talk about my non-career, let alone in a bathtub, but that's what happened.  All the lavender-scented soap and incense I've been washing with, and in, has taken on more significance than I originally thought.  Yes, lavender is a lovely, soothing fragrance, but this morning's symbolic ablutions reminded me that the word lavender is derived from the Latin word lavare, "to wash."  The French laver and English launder are derived from the same root.  
Once again, the universe has been telling me for several weeks that I should literally wash away whatever crap's been collecting in the garbage bin of my unconscious.  Although it hasn't been the best of holiday seasons - far from it - I love the synchronicity of it all.  Sometimes all the signs that proliferate my life mitigate the unpleasant little stories they foretell, and so colourfully illustrate.  Life is about the stories we live, and finding a common thread that connects them all inspires me, and fills my world and web with magic.
So I'm grateful that despite a bumpy start to 2015, I'm okay.  By paying attention to the road signs on my journey through life, I've managed to make a significant and fresh start to the New Year.  I wish you the same.
- G.P.
* wyrd - Old Norse word for fate, from which English weird is derived