New Town
It’s me. Again. I’m back. I had a nice time off. Christmas went well. Spent a great day with the kids. Played music. Realized how lucky I was. Am. How lucky I am. I’m trying to stay in the present tense. It’s a good way to write and a great way to live. The here and now. Of course, you have to look back every once in a while, just to check up on past mistakes and make sure you don’t repeat them. And looking ahead, well, who can rally ignore the future. I think the trick is to avoid fixating no matter where you look.
Anyway, I really like the week between Christmas and New Year’s day, which is when I’m writing this. During my working days I always made sure to take those days off because for the expenditure of a few vacation days I got nearly two weeks off, when you factor in the holidays. Typically, I used the week to assess the year just past and plan for the next year and usually the assessment involved how to develop better relationships with my friends, coworkers, and clients. I’m doing the same thing this year; except I don’t have any coworkers or clients.
In a way, I feel just as I did as a kid when my Navy dad picked us up and moved us to a new town every two years, except this time I’m only moving into a new year, but still, it’s new and full of potential, and there are things I can do, reinventions. I’m planning trips, scheduling remedial medical procedures, and trying to decide where best to invest my emotional energy. Fun times. With any luck, lots of things will work out, and those that don’t will be lessons for future reference, which is how you make a positive out of failure and keep moving forward. So, Happy New Year everyone. Welcome back.
John W. Wilson is the author of The Long Goodbye: A Caregiver’s Tale