Turning the Page
Originally published in The Laconia Daily Sun ›
Pushing the reset button, having an opportunity to change course, provides a feeling of lightness. There is an opportunity as we approach New Year’s Eve, as we turn the page on the year 2018, to think about how we can alter our lives, perhaps in a small but significant way, ever so slightly, in what might be called a course correction. Reflect on all the love and joy the year has brought, the special memories. At the same time leaving behind the regret, the guilt and the pounds. Begin a new exercise program, make a decision to read daily, plan a trip that might be on the bucket list, reconnect with a friend.
This year 2018 we marked the fiftieth anniversary of 1968, a year of seismic social and political change in the United States and across the globe. Famine in Biafra, the Viet Nam war, the death of Dr. Marin Luther King, the first manned spaceflight mission to reach the Earth’s Moon, orbit it and then return to Earth. These events, which changed the course of history, seemed far in the past. During this year there have also been events that in reflection will seem just as historic and transformative. How will history look back on 2018, fifty years from now?
Before I begin to think about resolutions for 2019, I want to stop and thank all of you, my readers. I have been writing this column since 2015 and over the years many of you have sent me notes. I have reconnected with a classmate from grammar school, been invited to a weaving class and to visit a family farm. I have met the daughter of a reader in Manhattan. Through my exploration of the Lakes Region I have established new friendships and in the course of doing research for the column have learned more about the history of the towns and villages that have grown into thriving communities. These notes and friendships are very meaningful to me and I want to say thank you. I appreciate your words and enjoy meeting as many of you as I can.
May your new year be filled in good health, warm friendships, exploration and peace. Anything you can imagine can be achieved over time, with patience and a plan. If we are to live in a more harmonious and peaceful world we must work together. It will mean that each one of us will have to let go of something and accept the beliefs of others.
One of the books I read and enjoyed in 2018 was Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing (Charles Scribner Sons, 2017).
“Some days later, I understood what he was trying to say, that getting grown means learning how to work that current: learning when to hold fast, when to drop anchor, when to let it sweep you up.”
Happy New Year.