It’s 2015.  I know you’ve already thought about that, but it is a new beginning.  We all live our lives day in and day out sometimes without thinking.  And at this time each year the message comes back to me – it is a new beginning.  Time to try again (and how did I get this far?)

Friday I went to the funeral of a long-time and dear friend.  I say long time, but he was just 43 years old, about the age of my children.  That got to me.  I’ve known Tommie for 20 years but I guess it never occurred to me how young he really was.  Our families camped together, boated together, worked on a lake house together and he once rescued me when my car broke down.  I’m not the only one he ever helped and never wanted payment. I went to his wedding (both of them) and now his funeral, and I’m the one that is still going. I knew him through thick and thin.  We went through back surgery around the same time, but mine did not include cancer.  He always wore a smile for everyone he met – he truly loved life.

Situations like last week’s funeral bring you back to reality.  Life is precious and fragile, handle with care (or prayer).  But it also makes me want to try harder to do the things in life I want to do, not just have to do.

Someone in my Oghama writers group said only one more day until the dreaded dayjobasaurus.  I know the feeling – but I am going to try to do better at that too.  The day job is more than just money coming in to feed me.  There are good people there who mean something to me.

So, I resolve to eat more veggies for my physical health and enjoy whatever I am doing for my mental health.  Life is short. Treasure it – all of it.