Tag Archives: 2024

The Last Day Of An Old Year

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Welcome to the last day of 2024. It’s hard to believe we have found our way through another twelve months and to the end of the line on our annual calendars.

I remember a time that 2025 sounded like such a distant, almost futuristic year. Now it’s so close we can almost touch it and I’m feeling a little cheated. WHERE is my Rosie the Robot?

My cleaning, laundry and cooking won’t take care of themselves! 

This year passed so quickly and I honestly don’t know where the time went. I traveled less, hiked less and read less than normal. But my travels did take me to interesting places. I journeyed on a train, supported many independent bookstores, and learned lots. I saw the Northern Lights from my own yard in southern Ohio.

I watched a plane fly high overhead as I stood at the grave of Wilbur and Orville Wright who gave us the fine gift of flight. Wonder what they would think of how their invention has moved people and society across all these years?

Actress Mary Steenburgen moved me deeply when she told the Ohio School Boards Association about her passion for books and reading. A classic Pizza Hut location transported me back to my childhood. A few days later, a walk amongst the cherry blossoms along the Athens Bike Path took me back to my college days at Ohio University when I was young and learning was exciting.

Hikes were rare this year thanks to a sprained ankle, knee problem, bronchitis and, most recently, emergency dental surgery. But the hikes we did get in were good ones and we found a gorgeous old trail that the tourists haven’t discovered yet.

Along the way, there was beautiful music and art and kind volunteers who offered lessons and aid on topics ranging from Monet to trolley cars and from the Liberty Bell to books galore.

We said farewell to my brother Fritz – a German Shepherd we brought home as a pup who infused much joy and excitement into my parents’ home. He had suffered greatly in his old age, making it impossible for him to go on and cruel to make him do so.

In other words, there was sadness,  adventure, the extraordinary and the mundane. That’s life. And, thankfully, life does go on if we are fortunate to wake again for another day. 

I’m not at all excited for the new year. In fact, I view it with some distrust and disdain. My own mental and physical health need to take priority this year and that means less news, more hikes and less tv in favor of more books and creative pursuits. It’s time to start planning some adventures. After all, one important key to happiness is having something to look forward to.

Tomorrow is a new day. It’s the first day of a brand new year. I hope to spend this day at home and doing as I please. I’ll go to bed early with a book and hopefully wake up on January 1, 2025 prepared to face the new year! 

Eclipsing Regrets

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I live less than two hours from the much talked about path of totality of the eclipse here in Ohio. People who are in the know about eclipses will tell you that witnessing a total eclipse is a life changing experience. It sounds amazing for a nature lover and it will be two decades before our country sees another one like it.

And guess what? 

I did not go see it.

This would have required taking the day off work, choosing a place to go, maybe fighting some traffic and possibly doing all that only to stand beneath a cloud or a street light that would come on at totality. Plus, I really needed to stay and work.

I didn’t have it in me to figure it out. And then when I came up with a plan, it still sounded like too much to deal with. 

So I worked from home and saved my lunch break to experience 97 percent totality from the quiet of my own back yard.

First, I watched CBS news coverage of totality moving through Texas where day turned to night and a hush fell over the world. It was pretty cool.

In my yard, the warm, sunny day became overcast and cool. Rather than become quiet, the birds became louder as the moon moved into the sun’s path.   

When I came back in, totality was hitting Niagara Falls and the correspondent on tv was in tears. I listened as she described this dazzling, awe inspiring experience. In that moment, she and many others were living their very best lives. 

And I was at home watching it on tv.

It was then that I remembered that it’s not always possible to live our very best life and that being sad about that truth isn’t something I want to do. 

I will always regret the adventures I don’t take. The road not taken, the next room in the museum, the bend in the trail, the eclipse not seen. Unfortunately, regrets will take us nowhere. Instead, it’s probably best to use those regrets to fuel the next adventure, the one after that and the one after that.

The good news is that I’m starting to put some adventures on the 2024 calendar and that this unused PTO day will help me go somewhere else. And when you think about it like that, the promise of another day eclipses what was lost on Monday.

The Year That Was

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As I write this, it’s just after midnight on New Year’s Eve. In less than 24 hours, we will greet a new year and with it the proverbial blank slate I have been craving for some time. Today’s date is December 31, 2023 or 123123.  I imagine this date is popular with gamblers, astrologers and couples looking for a unique wedding date. 

For me it marks the end of a year marked by mixed feelings. There were fewer adventures this year and most didn’t go as planned. There were disappointments in the realms of my health and career as well. I haven’t felt well for so long I can hardly remember what it’s like to actually feel good. Now I have bursitis in one knee that’s slowing me down. In other words, lots of small annoyances have plagued life this year. 

But it wasn’t all bad.

I did get to travel some. I am employed and I continue to fight for good health. So I’m luckier than many and I haven’t given up yet.  My parents have experienced some issues as well but they haven’t given up either so that’s good too. 

This year brought a truly wonderful human into my life and I hope the coming years will allow him to stay. These last five months found me out on the trail a lot more than had been possible before. That time in nature and all those miles hiked gave me exercise, peace, friendship and understanding of the world around me. 

These hikes gave me time to breathe and to enjoy the beauty of southern Ohio. 

I have plans for myself in 2024. Not resolutions, mind you. I have actual plans and challenges that are designed to keep me on track and I am excited for what the winter holds. Nonetheless, I’m done with this year.

It’s the year that was and that’s the best I can say about it.

I intend to observe the last day of 2023 by putting clean sheets on the bed, spending some time in nature and going to sleep early. The old year can see itself out and I’ll greet the new one first thing Monday morning. As for New Year’s Day, I plan to spend it lounging with a good book. It will be my last day of vacation before heading back to a busy season at work and I intend to enjoy it doing something important: nothing. 

How was your year? Are you excited to celebrate or happy to go to sleep early tonight?

The Optimism Of A New Calendar

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What’s more optimistic than a new calendar?

I can’t think of a thing.

I finally picked up my new 2024 calendar and began filling in all the annual stuff that requires my attention and first quarter obligations that have been accumulating on post-it notes.

It felt good to crack open this new book with its blank pages and little squares waiting to be filled in with my activities and notes.

It represents the clean slate of a new year and entire months of possibility filled with no mistakes – yet.

Plus, the brand I use is pretty, features some inspiring quotes and is arranged in a fashion that makes sense to me.

Lots of people are abandoning old school paper calendars for those on their phones and computers but I’m a purist. I like my paper book that I can flip through and scribble on. It makes me happy. It makes me feel a smidgeon of optimism.

I don’t knew about you but my optimism runs a little dry some days. I can use all the hope and goodness I can get.