I certainly didn’t need to reread the past twelve months worth of monthly blogs to come to the conclusion that 2024 was a crazy year. But, as has now become an annual custom, I did so anyway…
Jeez… I learned some valuable lessons this year…
Innocence has a way of being thrust from the blissfully unaware no matter one’s current age. Stories of misinterpreting omens and being ruthlessly scammed will hopefully be remembered well into the future. Optimistic wishes, especially when directed towards the unpredictable world of politics, are never guaranteed to come true. And tick bites, covid and fish hooks through the thumb are casualties that can befall any of us at any time.
(And even the fish hook thing - one doesn’t necessarily need to be fishing for this to happen; a woman I know in the Vineyard was casually walking on the sidewalk when a passerby accidentally seared one deeply into the flesh of her waist - one of the crazier stories I heard this summer that didn’t actually happen to me!)
Most of these lessons I’d already learned in one form or another throughout the various decades of my life. In reflection, I’ve probably fallen victim to a scam in every one of them. So, unfortunately for me, forgetting these lessons can be as much of a fact of life as experiencing them in the first place.
And yet here we are. Another Holiday Season.
So beautiful and artistically inventive here on the Upper West Side…
And this year I had a last-second change of plans and was able to enjoy a festive vacation in Vermont. Having time stand still peacefully for a five day-and-night span feels like a much-deserved miracle that hopefully bodes well for the year ahead.
So many of us are facing disappointments and setbacks and there are sure to be many other lessons learned and maybe even comically remembered by yours truly in these months to come. But when good moments and great holidays grace our lives, we owe it to ourselves and everyone around us to stand back a bit to gratefully acknowledge them.
As I’m doing right now.
Happy New Year, everyone! As I posted to all my FaceBook friends late into the night this recent Christmas Eve, hopefully a surprisingly amazing 2025 awaits us all!
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