Can We Talk 2

Closing Out the Old Year

So how has 2015 made a difference to me?

I am a few pounds lighter. I can walk a mile a little faster, climb hills without passing out, and stay on my feet hours longer without swelling ankles. Of course, I have less money, less income, and I'm blessed with a worse insurance company chosen by my employer. I have two new great-nephews. My father, for whom I care, is going deaf and withdrawing from social activities. I have to yell at him to make him hear me. I go to all his doctor appointments now, so that's time consuming.

I'm singing in the church choir, first time in ten years or more, even though my voice goes out frequently with allergies. I've become friends with a woman 15 years older, who throws really nice parties in her very classy house. The only single people at her parties are women, but I always have a good time there.

I got rid of a lot of things through donating to charities or dumping them in the trash. I gave up trying to decorate the house. It's my father's house, and although he doesn't know anything about home decor, he's going to have it the way he wants it. So there. I've accumulated a few new things, but not as much as I threw out. I did reorganize some closets and cabinets.

I've added some things to the family tree, kept in touch with distant relations and old friends, joined a book club, and quit the book club. I did another Nanowrimo, which needs to be rewritten and edited. I have worked on the 2014 one in 2015, but it's still not presentable. So now I'll have two to fix.

So I guess I didn't just twiddle my thumbs this past year, even though it feels like it at times. We want to make progress, to see ourselves going forward. We want to know that somehow we've made a difference. But I suppose my college professor had it right. Sometimes we're not on a straight path. It seems like we're going in circles because we're in the midst of it, looking down. If we could step outside our lives and look, we could see we're on a spiral staircase, going up just a little higher every time around the same area. Maybe I'm an ant on a Slinky, but I'm going to stick with that thought. I'm making upward progress.