A Reason to be Grateful

In an effort to broaden my horizons beyond the snow encrusted dooryard outside my window this AM, I visited several bookmarked blogs I have found interesting in the past. Dutifully, I read political commentary, perused recent photo shoots of neighborhoods, identified with pieces decrying the annual end of the year blues, and one piece on the sad state of public places in Rome.

Pretty much a typical jaunt through Blog land. Same old same old. After commenting on a few, I found my time unfufilled. My voyeuristic tendency was satisfied, but my need to spout off my mouth remained frustrated and was still jones-ing. So here I am.

The end of 2007 is right around the corner. Another year chalked up and accounted for. I sit here wondering just where the time went. What about this past year sticks out? Historical events unfolded everyday as they usually do. And billions of people went about their business unmindful of those events as they usually do. Yet in each individual's existence, occurences that would barely cause a ripple of interest to the rest of us stand out as events of major import and changed lives in dramatic ways.

Divorces, deaths, births, and winning lottery tickets happen without the limelight of public scrutiny. Yet these events are the ones that actually shape our lives. Small ordinary events that are anything but to those of us who experience them.

So I sit here taking note that not even the small events visited me this year. My daughter continued her grad program without major problems. My wife's business continued to chug along at it's busy pace. My bike shop logged another year of mediocre performance and I grew and cut my beard a couple of more times. I gained weight, lost it, and re-gained it again. My chronic liver problem popped up again and is now back in the shadows again waiting to pop up again.

Was it basically a year best forgotten and cataloged as SSDD? No. Actually I would have to say it was a great year. I managed to hike my way through it and look to come out on the other side one more time. And that is always a reason to be grateful.