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Sunday, December 29, 2013

GoodBye 2013! Hello Hope!

Here's hoping 2014 is less complicated than 2013, but with lots of choices as suggested by the HOKUSAI 2014 Calender!

We have not had a year that the general population was sorry to see pass into history for a very long time. When we said goodbye to 2007, little did we know that would become one of the good ole years of our lives. Of course we accept that life is subject to cycles, the ups and the downs, but this down has lasted so long, and will likely last for so much longer that it has become the new norm. That is not good.

Still, all things are comparative, and our own depression has to be properly set alongside what our parents have suffered through in their time. I have learned that life will hand us disappointments whether we are ready to accept them or not. We just have to learn to take them on board with more grace.

It is usual at this time of year to look back over the past twelve months and to review the things that have happened. All of the major stories are well known and are thoroughly depressing so I would rather not go over all that again, except for one thing: that is the matter of the most powerful typhoon/hurricane ever that struck the unfortunate people of the Phillippines. I refer to this because as a part of global warming I believe that we shall see ever more destructive events around the world, including parts of the world that normally is not affected by storms of this sort. See, more bad news!

For my family 2013 did bring forth one significantly good development: our son had met a young woman whom he finally deemed to be of sufficient quality to introduce her to us. Our feeling is that his choice is well grounded and that we are impressed by his common sense, especially when it comes to love. I think she is a keeper and we are very happy for them both.

We have now all but covered the complete cycle with our new son who arrived in 1990. I was fifty at the time and I was criticized for becoming a father at such a late stage in my life. It was said that I would leave him far too soon for him to have come to know me, but as things have turned out he only now needs to marry and present us a grandchild to finish the cycle. (Where did the time go?)

As we begin to close the door on 2013 we look forward to 2014 with some degree of trepidation. There are no signs that even suggest that the new year will bring us happiness and economic growth, but that need not stop us from thinking positively and hoping that the year will be an improvement over the outgoing one. Some things will happen naturally, such as growing older. I like to think that we also grow wiser, but that won't help us much if we lose our ability to remember what it was that we learned.

Why does life have to be so complicated?

Happy New Year!

Copyright (c) 2013  Eugene Carmichael