Well the decade is drawing to a close and I’ve been meaning to write an insightful post about the significance of this year and maybe where we’re going next year. But I couldn’t come up with anything.
The problem is I don’t really believe in New Year (or New Decade depending on how you count it). It’s an arbitrary day that has no more real significance than any other. And the fact that it is in fact the start of a new year is largely historical chance.
But it occurred to me that for once this new year has taken on a greater personal significance than ever before. It really has been one bitch of a year for me and my family and I can’t wait to see the back of it and seize the chance for a fresh start.
The first blow was when my wife was let go from her job. Fortunately it didn’t take very long before she had found an new position, but that was just the warm up. Only a month later my Mother in Law passed away suddenly and pretty much blew our comfortable lives apart. From then on it was a quick succession of problems to be solved from dental work to behavior at school. Then few months later a work colleague passed away unexpectedly.
Under the circumstances, I think you’ll forgive me if I am ready to see the back of this year.
I know that statistically there hasn’t been any more death this year than in previous years, but it hit close to home this time (several times actually) and while there were some wonderful moments, they get overshadowed by the sadness of other events.
So… it was a bitch of a year. But we’re about to start a new year and the next post will be more positive and forward looking. Promise.