Can We Talk 2

Happy Happy New Year

         A lot of not so good things happened in 2015, but some very good things happened, too. All in all, it wasn't my own worst year. And somehow I'm ending the year feeling very hopeful about the future.

         I don't like resolutions, but they are very hard to avoid. I wasn't scheduled to work Friday, but I received a special request to work tomorrow, so someone else must have quit or gotten fired or very sick in advance. I can use the extra hours and only planned to catch up on some reading. I opted for the easy versions of black-eyed peas, stewed tomatoes, and mixed greens. I'm not cooking them from scratch. We have leftover meat in the freezer, so we can serve the traditional southern New Year's Dinner when I get home tomorrow night. It's the vegetables on the menu, not the method cooked that makes for the tradition. I could opt to omit the meat, but the men who eat here don't like that. (When I served my dad vegetarian spaghetti, with meat as a side dish, he complained. "I want meat in my sauce.") Of course, we'll have that with iced tea.

         It's time to write a "Dear Me" letter once again. I don't know what I can say that I haven't told myself before. But I'll give it some thought.

         I believe our job is to be encouraging in a discouraging world. The first persons we have to encourage are ourselves. Balancing truth and reality with hope and encouragement may be difficult, but it can be done. Happy New Year to anyone who stumbles across this. Let 2016 be your very best year.