The Requisite Reflection

 Everyone seems to be posting their New Year's Day deep thoughts, something I rarely do.

I'm not a calendarist. 

As River Tam observed, calendars are a "vestigial mode of time measurement based on solar cycles." Somewhere someone decided January 1 was the first day of a new year, which is ridiculous to me. It makes as much sense as the observation of the birth of Jesus on December 25, ever and always. You can read my previous Christmas rant on that alternative fact.

Many are glad to see the back of 2021. I for one had a great year in 2021. I gained enough strength to march a mile-long parade in the summer heat in Wildwood with the Golden Knights, and I made it through three more performances this year, including featured parts. The South Jersey Vagabonds took 2nd place in competition with two of my arrangements. Jack and I held our summer celebration with my men providing music, one of my favorite joys. I finished three books in my new Twins of Bellesfées series, and started books 4 and 5. My first book will be published sometime next year. Because of that, I created a website and a blog (which I hope you are reading right now). I attended two writers cons, and was selected to read at Noir at the Bar to some mild acclaim (which means people told me they really liked the story and the way I told it). I was inducted to the New Jersey Drum Corps Hall of Fame, an honor I could only dream of when I was a 10-year-old rookie learning to play bugle. I also returned to my position as the music director of the Bracken Cavaliers.

I also learned more video editing skills, and I'm kind of proud of the effects I used in this year's church cantata. I also get to hear marvelous readings as I edit the videos for Strong Women ~ Strange Worlds. 

I got to read a lot of wonderful fiction for Abyss & Apex as an assistant fiction editor, which means I help filter the slush piles and make note of the up-and-coming authors of the genre.

Jack and I shared some wonderful times seeing our friend Dub Glenn, the one-man blues band, having the Van Gogh Experience, snorkeling and partying in Jamaica at our resort, spending time with Delta Rae in the VIP meet-and-greet.

Most of all, I have the best family any woman could want: brilliant children and grandchildren who bring me joy every day. Eliana and I wove daisy chains to wear, and Leighton and I play "trois, deux, un, allons-y!" We sing and dance, play with stuffed animals, go to playgrounds, and blow bubbles. And there's always music whenever we're together. They are pure joy. This year marked 50 years since I said I would "go steady" with Jack. Not many can say that they've experienced such love for half a century.

   

Yes, there have been a few health issues. I have breast cancer, which means I take cancer medication to foul up my day-to-day existence, like putting on 30 pounds I don't need despite my careful dieting. My blood pressure has recently gone wonky for some reason, and I underwent a few visits to the ER for chest pains, had a sonogram and a stress test, and nothing seems to be wrong with me except my elevated numbers. These stresses contribute to my depression, which medication does not seem adequate to treat. So I cry a lot for absolutely no reason, and I dwell on ghosts of past crises long resolved for absolutely no reason. But I know what these are, and I allow myself to endure them because I always come out the other side.

And yes, I ended the month of December with what appears to be one of the many COVID variants, despite all my precautions. But I'm triple-shot, and I'm not in the hospital fighting for my life. We have not yet celebrated Christmas in my house, as my husband insists we must have kids and grandkids on our living room floor to celebrate, and I still have symptoms. But that just goes to show we don't care much about what the calendar says about how and when to mark those vestigial modes of time, those arbitrarily delineated gradations of a space-time continuum. 

I know what I would like to do in the days to come: finish book 4, attend the C3 Con and Philcon, march the Elks Parade again, go swimming every day this summer, lose these 30 pounds and a little more.

But I make no resolutions. I mark each day as it begins. I revise my to-do list as I count my spoons. In all things, I look to God for guidance, and I give thanks for everything in all circumstances. It's how I've lived out the past 47 years, and how I plan to continue, despite anything the calendar says.

May you all be so blessed!