Looking Back, Looking Ahead

Today is Monday, January second, 2017; here in the United States, it's the official New Year's Day holiday, since the actual day fell on a Sunday.

Happy New Year, again!

The month of January is thought to have been named for the Roman god Janus, the god of beginnings and transitions, who was depicted as having two faces - one which looked back to the previous year, and another that looked ahead to the year to come ...

And so it is that I thought I'd start off the new year with a look back and a look ahead.

For a lot of reasons, 2016 was a terrible year. An unusually large number of celebrities died in the course of the year, Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, the melting of the arctic and antarctic ice caps continued at a disturbing pace, and common courtesy and civility in America suffered a sharp decline. 

Can 2017 be any improvement over 2016? I think it's unlikely. If we accept that lots of celebrities died in 2016 because they had reached a statistically-deadly age, then 2017 isn't likely to be much better on that front. As for the decline of civility and the ice caps, the election of Donald Trump appears likely to make both situations worse.

2017 will be my first full year as a retiree on Social Security and Medicare ... just in time for the GOP to start dismantling both programs. I'm lucky in a way, because I have a military pension (although there are no longer any guarantees about that, either), but living on a fixed income in NoVa is ... challenging.

Agnes and I are going to do our best to enjoy the retirement we've earned. We have a cruise to Hawaii planned for next month, with side trips to Los Angeles and San Diego, a trip to Williamsburg in April to watch our granddaughter Marcy march with her high-school band, a trip back to Germany, at least one trip to Dayton to visit our grandchildren out there, and a long-postponed visit to Niagara Falls. We'll stay busy.

I don't make New Year's resolutions, because they usually don't last more than a few days ... okay, minutes, but I do have general goals for the coming year.

- I plan to keep writing my blog every day as long as I can keep it interesting and the readership holds up.

- I plan to continue my effort to walk three to five miles per day for exercise.

- I will try not to embarrass Agnes too much.

- I will try to be the sort of wise and loving grandfather I never had (both of my grandfathers passed away before I was born).

- I will try to write more letters and document more of the family history so that my grandchildren know something of their background.

I think that's enough. There's no point in peaking too soon.

To you, Dear Readers, I wish the very happiest and safest of New Years, and I hope that you will continue to join me in this space every day as we navigate the rocky shoals of 2017 together.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

Looking Back, Looking Forward

Today is December 31st - the very last day of 2015. Tonight is the bacchanalian festival of New Years Eve, when people gather in large numbers to celebrate the coming of the New Year by drinking too much and playing with explosives ... rather like the Fourth of July, just with colder weather,

I don't know about you, but I'm happy to see the receding backside of 2015. It was a year that began with the death of my father and the death of Agnes's father within a week of each other, and continued through employment uncertainty. enormous amounts of depressing Congressional buffoonery and low-brow, fact-challenged presidential campaigning that often made it embarrassing to admit to being an American.

On the positive side, my son and his family moved back to the States from Germany, finally getting all our grandchildren on the same continent, if not in the same state. Agnes and I enjoyed our Western Caribbean cruise in November, and the annual trip to Chincoteague Island in August, and we celebrated our first large-scale family Thanksgiving and reunion in several years,

Continuing with the positive, I'm still employed ... for a few more months at least. I'm still more or less healthy (and in order to ensure that I stay that way, my daughter gave me a Fitbit for Christmas, along with the stern announcement that she's going to be monitoring my vitals, diet, and exercise closely in the coming year). Agnes has not strangled me in my sleep yet, either, which is an amazing thing in itself.

Looking ahead to 2016, I plan to retire by the end of the year, allowing myself more time to play with my grandchildren, attend reunions (of my college drill team in April, and Agnes's school in July), plant a real garden, get started on the book my mother always thought I'd write, and wallow in depression over the state of the country. Oh, and document all of it on my blog, which I hope you will continue to read and enjoy.

Have a safe and happy New Year's celebration, and - in the words of one of the best toasts I've ever heard - may the best of last year be the worst of the year to come. And come back tomorrow, New Year's Day, when we name the 2015 Ass Clown of the Year.

Happy New Year!

Bilbo

Adios, 2014 - No Need to Leave a Forwarding Address

Today, Dear Readers, is December 31st ... the last day of The Year of Our Lord 2014, or 2014 C.E. if you prefer. Maybe it's just me, but I thought 2014 was an uncommonly yucky year. It was the year that:

Russia came back with a vengeance, going from prickly quasi-ally to an aggressive, bullying reincarnation of Stalin's Soviet Union.

We learned about the beastly religious bigotry and violent perversions of the so-called "Islamic State."

A person I once trusted and loved as part of the family turned out to be a greedy, self-centered bully.

Members of Congress of both parties ... but mostly Republicans ... acted like spoiled children and made our once-respected government the laughingstock of much of the world. When the performance of your government compares unfavorably to that of Italy, there's a problem.

American voters threw their support behind a political party that demonstrably does not care about their issues and concerns.

And,

The Supreme Court improved the ability of big business and the wealthy to purchase government services and support by continuing to remove limits on the size and transparency of their donations to political parties and individual candidates.

There were a few plusses in the past year, though ... it was also the year in which:

Agnes and I celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary, making me thankful that, despite all temptation, she hasn't killed me yet.

Our beloved oldest grandchild, Marcy, turned into a beautiful and talented 14 year-old lady, our equally-beloved youngest grandchild, Ava, turned a delightful two, and the other four grandchildren sandwiched in between continued to grow and develop into wonderful young people.

At work, I actually managed to get three Air Force Instructions finally coordinated and published*.

My blog went over the quarter-million hits mark ... proving that (a) I have a significant number of online friends; and (b) there's no accounting for taste.

I enjoyed good health and the love of a wonderful extended family.

And finally,

I enjoyed the company of old and the pleasure of making new friends.

So, I guess that - on balance - it was an average year in which the good things balanced out the bad. Now we get to see what 2015 has in store.

I'm crossing my fingers, and so should you.

Have a good day. Party down tonight, but do it safely ... I need you all back tomorrow for the announcement of the 2014 Ass Clown of the Year, and you won't want to miss it!

More thoughts in the coming year.

Bilbo

* Trust me, it's a big deal ... it took five years to get to this point.