Happy 2009!

Another new year. It makes me wonder, as new years always do, what lies ahead for us this year. I think about my children and grandchildren, my friends, and myself. Erin and Jeff are getting their wonderful new house in Beaumont finally; that's certainly a good and exciting development. Tyler will be going to a new school, and surely he'll miss his wonderful teacher in Blythe, and all of his friends at school and church. But I know he'll thrive wherever he is; he just has that in him. Jaden will make new friends in his new neighborhood too, and actually he's young enough he may never even remember living in Blythe when he's older. Hopefully Jeff will get transferred so he won't have that impossible commute for too long. And Erin will LOVE her new home, I know, especially that fabulous kitchen! (I think I've been suffering from kitchen envy--see photo, you'll understand.)

They'll be closer to us by two hours, making it practical to visit for an afternoon or evening, or to babysit on occasion, etc., when they're only a half hour away. All that is good and exciting for sure!

I hope there is something good in store for Michael and Jessica as well. I don't know what those things might be, especially for Michael. I guess I should say I just hope that he gets what he wants, whatever that might be, and that he is happy. For Jessica, mostly I just hope for good health. That might be an overstatement; perhaps all I mean is that she might have "okay" health, without any major downward turns, as has seemed to be the general trend the last few years.

I think about being another year older myself, and that reminds me of how my grandmother used to talk so frequently about being older and closer to death. She would always say things like, "This is the last car I'll ever buy," or "I know I won't ever ________ again." We teased her mercilessly about this tendency of hers, but I have to admit I completely understand how she felt, now that I'm older myself, and feel quite repentent about how we used to pick on her. I think about these things all the time myself now. Not in a maudlin way, not with any particularly negative feeling. Just being more aware of it. I never thought about such things when I was 30, for instance; it never would have occurred to me. I find myself feeling kind of curious about how much time I do actually have left in this life. I sometimes wish I knew, although I know that probably wouldn't be a good thing. I know my grandma had no one to talk to about all of this, except for us, and we certainly weren't receptive, and definitely were not understanding. She didn't have any friends, for whatever reason, or any relatives who were contemporaries--just us. I don't know how I would manage without friends to talk to, and feel sorry for her, looking back, for how lonely she must have felt. So, Grandma, here's to you! This coming April 14th would have been your 100th birthday--I wish you were here so we could talk about this, now that I think I understand what you were thinking and feeling. We could have a good time comparing notes. No one would listen to you then, but you and I certainly could chew on this one now!