The past year is a blur. And yet so much happened. My wife’s parents came for a visit. Our dog Sofie died, and now Sam leaving his mischievous paw prints on our hearts. My daughter entered high school. I wrote another novel. I made a few baby steps toward submitting my work. One of my sons became a deacon. We continued to have issues with the HVAC company over our new furnace and air conditioner. We re-landscaped the area between our back deck and the privacy wall and helped our neighbor install his in-ground trampoline.
My boys and I met John Flanagan, author of the “Ranger’s Apprentice” and “Brotherband” series. We’ve played a lot of Pokémon. The whole family hiked the Elephant Head Trail on Antelope Island. I took my first business trip in years. My wife stopped volunteering at the animal sanctuary. I went to both Scout Camp and Girls Camp. We stained the fence. We went to a lot of Pokémon tournaments. My wife and I celebrated our 16th anniversary.
This hasn’t been a very remarkable year as far as events. Mostly we’ve just been keepin’ on keepin’ on. It was a year filled with a lot of little things, and when I look back I have to wonder what we did with all of our time. And yet it was a year of individual growth for all of us. I believe I’m a better person in general than I was at the beginning of the year. I’ve been through some struggles and learning experiences and emerged a little stronger, perhaps.
It’s been a good year, all in all. Probably one of those years that was much more important than we realized at the time, but will look back and see it was the beginning of a lot of things. Or maybe I’m just trying to pump some drama into an otherwise kinda flat year. I dunno. I’m nearly to a new year and I find myself rather ambivalent about the old one.
And that’s okay. Sometimes life is just living. I could wish for more excitement, but I’ve had exciting years, and they’re usually the wrong kind of excitement. Boring can be very good.
So long, 2015. You’ve been a decent year. Now it’s time to move on.