christmas eve, reflection on the year

in January, Hugo (our manager, business partner, and dear friend) coined the phrase "no stress 2010!"
it quickly became 15% recurring joke (we'd shout it out anytime anything would go particularly wrong on the road) and 85% band mantra (spoken aloud when weighing the options of an important split-second decision and trying to keep a positive attitude). i've laughed several times about it, since it's actually been the most stressful year Sonos has ever had.

in hindsight, i'm quite certain we needed the expression (psychologically speaking) to weather the storm of the last 12 months.

i do not mean for a moment that it has been a bad year. quite the contrary. it has been an extraordinary year! all the stress of the year was a result of the band's growing pains. our sound, our image, our live show persona, our over-all attitude; all were forged by the challenges of the year on the road, the unpredictability of venue or travel conditions, the extremely limited time and resources to make our holiday album, etc. each aspect has bounced or broken against the hard surface of life on the road. i've come to know myself better in the last year than i have since before college, and i could not be more grateful for my closest friends whom i get to sing with almost every day in the van and every night in the venue, or for the saintly support system of people (from close family to complete strangers) who've reached out from every corner to help us keep going.

i am weary from the year, but i'm smiling about it. i'm vibrating with excitement about how hard we've worked, all we've accomplished, what we've become, and where we're headed next...