Can We Talk 2

Ending A Year

         Many people are off from work today. Some things never close, like hospitals, transportation, retail, food industry, hotels, entertainment, nursing homes. Well, okay, maybe half the working people are off today: trash collection, schools, office workers, church employees, construction, most doctors offices. If New Year's Eve fell on a later day in the week, they might be open, but one productive day in between a weekend and a holiday will not be very productive. Of course, the unemployed and the retired are unaffected by it. But, for school kids, its the dwindling of their vacation as they dread the return to school.

         As the old year ends, we evaluate what happened in 2018. How did we handle it? Did we make any headway emotionally, financially, career wise, spiritually, or in our relationships? Did we gain weight or lose weight? (Isn't that on everyone's mind in January?) Did our health get better or worse? How is our family? We can even get more global and look at our neighborhoods, our state, our world. How have the last 12 months affected us and our own immediate surroundings?

         For me a look back seems gloomy. My brother's cancer took a nose dive, Our hearts are heavy as we go through these holidays. Some friends and acquaintances died. One good friend made a great comeback from last year's cancer, but another one is gravely ill with a new diagnosis.

         We have had so much rain that our downstairs flooded 4 times; it only seeped in twice in the previous ten years, without so much damage. So that's getting to be a bigger expensive problem. The air conditioner died and had to be replaced along with all the duct work, costing over $10,000. Dad destroyed the garbage disposal by putting drain cleaner in it (you can't tell a man he is doing something wrong), so that had to be removed and new pipe put in. A huge tree fell after one of the rains, smashing both our cars in the driveway. Actually, reviewing 2018 is making me feel bad.

         On the other hand, we had a new baby born into the family. I joined a gym. Despite gaining five pounds in the last six weeks, I have muscles in my arms and shoulders, and some in my legs, that had almost evaporated before. My endurance has improved. It's an uphill battle, but worth continuing. I participated in NaNoWriMo. I cleaned out some closets, making lots of donations, and putting a lot in the trash. That's an ongoing project, too, since it's hard to part with things you've collected over the decades or that belonged to a departed family member.

         My last day as church clerk is today, although I still have to make some changes in the October minutes to satisfy the county supervisors on some legal issues. I've been a co-teacher of some older ladies at church (one is younger than I, some are older than my father), and that has been very satisfying. The choir I sing in has gotten much smaller, but the voices blend nicely; we don't have any loud show-offs. It's been my first year as a retiree, and like many before me, I don't know how I used to get everything done and work a full-time job. I am tending to an elderly father who gets a little needier all the time. This has been a year of figuring out how to spend my time and adjust to changing pressures and demands. It's been a year of trying wrinkle creams and going to the hairdresser more often. I've cooked more, using fewer convenience foods.

         So I'm not going to look forward to 2019 until tomorrow. I'm just relishing today and where I've been. Hopefully, I've learned some helpful things and we didn't lose too much in the stock market. I don't want to repeat my mistakes, but I don't want to dwell on the past, only to learn from it.