2018

Another year has come and gone.  I'm generally not one to reflect over the past year or make new year resolutions.  However the past few years have had their challenges and I am reminded of them lately since the book of faces daily shows 'memories' from previous years.  I had forgotten some of them, but from at least 2009 I have made some sort of post about being glad the past year was gone and hoping that the new year would be better.  There have been multiple surgeries and health issues for both of us, job losses and the financial challenges that presents.  This past year would have been better if not for the last few months and the health challenges that presented themselves.  I already try to work on staying healthier with exercise and eating fairly well.  I mean fairly well in that I still will have a plate of enchiladas or a whataburger on occasion.  Yes, I'm weak.  

My focus this year, call it a resolution if you must, will be on getting K back to where she was before her health took a dive.  I want her better than before.  I may make her mad in that I will push her more than she will like.  I am going to take a more proactive role in her health.  We generally let each other do as they see fit, except for gentle reminders occasionally.  So If I disappear from here one day, you will know that I crossed some invisible line and she killed me.  No, that won't happen, but I'm sure to piss her off in this regard.  I will take that chance.  I have told her before, she is my most valuable possession, if I lose that, I've lost everything.  So It will be worth any trouble I cause for myself if I am able to spur her on to better fitness and health so she is around longer than me.  

Our preacher had a lesson about resolutions and taking stock of our spiritual condition.  I've been around long enough that I do most of what he talked about anyway at random times, not just the new year.  I do it almost daily.  It is too easy to get off track and go down the wrong road to not take stock almost daily in order to remain faithful.  Yes it can be hard but the alternative is something I want to avoid.  It is a good reminder regardless especially for the new or younger Christian.  

I am mostly an optimist, at least I think I am.  But I am also very practical and know that more than likely bad things will occur that we have no control over.  It is about how we respond to that challenge that matters.  Are we going to be all hang dog woe is me about bad times or get up and keep on keeping on?  I try to be the latter.  I tend to find good things that come out of a bad situation on a personal level.  I have a harder time with that when it is something I have no control over like world events and such.  Those type events make it harder to be optimistic about what is going on in the world and it has gotten harder and harder over the decades that I have been around.  But that is where my faith takes over and I work on the things I can control.  I am not as optimistic about our world and the state of things as I am generally.  I try not to let it get me down, but there are moments....

Happy Trails for the New Year Pard's