359 Days Until Christmas, or The Last Day of 2012

This day began like any of the other 364 that went before it; without fanfare, no parades billowing out their untold musical notes, no press conferences to obliterate the public of unmitigated gall.  Ahhh, such is the solitary life of the 62yr. old suburbanite living precipitously on the edge!!  Where is the bantering wit that so often betrays me that on this, the last day of 2012, that some philosophical vintage can not grace these pages and impress the masses?  I think it's simply that as I look back on those 364 days and this one in general, that looking gloriously for some form of "splendor in the grass" is not necessary anymore.  I look at what took place in this last year and reflect on it's significance in my life and how it has changed me or more so, have I effected change in someone else's life.  I had one such encounter several months ago and it had been one of those, "if I ever get the chance again" moments that fortunately did occur.  It is by far and away the most important encounter that occurred for me and while I'm so thankful it happened, it taught me a valuable lesson.  I rely on a Buddhist teaching on this one: "The secret is to want what you have and not want what you don't have." It showed me how love can span the test of time and that what we believe was once lost can be certainly found again.  And Tennyson's oft quote, "Better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all" certainly has an element of equivalence here.  And so, I think not of a missed opportunity of years gone by, but the very grace that it happened at all and that the love still exists today after all this time.

I think also of those that aren't here with me; those who have gone before and await my arrival.  I think of Mom and how she'd be eating herring in just about an hour.  It was one of those superstitions that warranted her a look into the future and she'd have good luck for the upcoming year if she'd only eat those silly stinking fish at midnight.  Dad would be bar tending and I'd be waiting for him to walk through the door, just to know he made it home safe.  I'd wander around the house looking for Piper and Dancer to come bounding up the steps ready to jump in bed.  But, I'll look at my Buddhist saying, and "want what I have" and be so very thankful for them.  So, Kody, Remy, Riley, Georgy, and Re-Re, Happy New Year, Love, Dad