A New Year

Let me start by saying that I've never been a big "fan" of the New Year celebration. The reasons for this are lost in the mists of time, I scarcely remember myself when I developed this dislike of celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of another. What really changed? The number of the year, that's about it.

But for the last three-plus decades I have celebrated the arrival of the 31st of December. Why, you might ask. Well, it's my oldest daughter's birthday. Not to give away her exact age, but she's been on the planet for a while now. Successful Navy officer, wife, and mother. She is also having great success in her current position at Naval Reactors. She's always been a go-getter, a tireless worker, and now she's an awesome Mom. (Yes, she takes after her mother ...)

Happy Birthday Nuke! You're doing great, don't ever stop.

In other news ...

The trip to Maryland was great, far too short due to dental "issues," but fun nevertheless. We got to spend Christmas with family and got to experience the joy of watching the young'uns open their Christmas presents. Young Robbie, the youngest of my clan, has gained an appreciation of his surroundings, him being all of sixteen months old, and had a great time.

Of course, he's an outgoing kid, bright and curious, so he found the glittering lights, the laughter, and the great food to be right up his alley. He took it all in, though he doesn't understand the reason for the season, he enjoys being with his family most of all. I think that's an important lesson right there. Ah, the wisdom and innocence of youth.

No doubt you've noticed my lack of a presence here over the past two weeks, a brief foray at Christmas but naught else, I break that fast here only because I wanted to start the year off with a post. And a tip o' the cap to juvat, Beans, and Tuna for filling in in my absence, which shall continue for at least another week.

Work on the book continues apace, editing the more obnoxious grammatical errors, putting in missing words and such, has busied me at times. I have to say, reading all those posts, collected in one place, has been entertaining, for me anyway. I still need to add in the missing endings for the Brits and the Poles but that shall happen sooner, rather than later.

I am enjoying the tale, the working title of which is Almost a Lifetime, a Novel of World War II. I can't remember who suggested that but I do have it written down somewhere. I do like it as a title.

While I'm not working on the novel full time, I am doing other fun things, I do need to keep at it. Some of the emotions which came up while re-reading what I wrote have been startling. I guess I can turn a phrase.

Now if I could only type consistently ...

May 2022 find you well and prosperous.

At the very least, may you be happy.

Bonne année!

Wszystkiego najlepszego w Nowym Roku!

Glückliches neues Jahr!

З Новим роком!

Happy New Year, my brothers and sisters!