High five if you can guess what restaurant we’re at here. 🙂

Note: This column was published in the Barrow Journal on Wednesday, January 6, 2015.

It’s hard to believe that it’s already 2016. It seems like yesterday when I wrote a column about the beginning of 2015 – we had a rough start to that year. My husband spent New Year’s Eve in the ER and later had to follow up with several doctor’s appointments, and he almost needed surgery. We had to change health insurance, lose our beloved doctor of many years, and my husband learned about many stressful changes happening at his workplace (and those are still happening).

Later still, I ended up in the ER one night, and at another time, I had to get to urgent care quickly. All this plus my kid’s routine check-ups, and I felt like the beginning of 2015 was nothing but doctor’s appointments. But all that passed, thankfully.

Then, of course, came the home repair. Yes, 2015 was not only about health issues, but some serious home improvement projects…many more than we had anticipated. (This is what happens when you’ve lived in your house for 12 years!) Thankfully my father-in-law visited just in time to help us out with some of the work, and eventually, all that stress passed too.

If nothing else, 2015 reminded me that bad things happen to us, but 95% of the daily stresses we endure are washed away in time. Whatever I am worried about today, by next year, it’ll probably be forgotten. Sometimes all it takes is a week, or even a good night’s sleep. As long as we and our loved ones are healthy, fed and making the best choices we can, things usually work out.

So now I can look back on all the good things that 2015 had to offer, and the first thing that comes to mind is our short trip to see Cloudland Canyon in May. We stayed in a near-by cabin, and the area was so beautiful that I still long to go back. We also took many day trips this year. We went to Greenville, SC; Macon, GA; Milledgeville; Dahlonega and more. Nothing we did was very expensive, but it still gave us many good memories.

In 2015, our nine-year-old surprised us by wanting to take piano lessons, and he’s proving to have a natural talent at it. My husband and I enjoy the twice-daily concerts! My six-year-old continues to love drawing (mostly prehistoric creatures), and he also loves birds. He’s making us all into “birders.” Having a cardinal family nest right outside our living room window this summer was a delight to all of us.

The boys went to a variety of camps and classes this year, and we continued to meet with friends who become dearer as each year passes. No matter what kind of stress we faced, nothing dampened the joy of educating and spending every day with these curious, imaginative kids.

Now I am looking forward to 2016, which will hopefully have less health and home improvement projects, but will continue to enrich us with more day trips, good music, secure work, enough work, a warm home, good friends, and quiet days to play and reflect on how lucky we are.

I hope 2016 will give you the best of new beginnings or the continuation of peace and security. Happy New Year!