New Year

Well, here we are, gentle readers, looking right down the barrel of brand new year. Hopefully, 2003 will be filled with good things for all of us. Of course, we all know that we will have to take some bitter with the sweet, but that comes with the territory.
Another Christmas is behind us, with all of the hustle, hassle and worry that goes along with it. I hope all of you had a holiday that made all the preparations and stress worthwhile.
I had the good fortune to have the people I love most in the world around me on Christmas. So many people, perhaps some of you, didn’t have that luxury. On those occasions when I have been in that boat, I have tried to keep in mind that distance between loved ones doesn’t lessen the love, but only makes the next occasion when they can be together all that much sweeter. It doesn’t always help, but it’s better than dwelling on the absence of those loved ones.
As is customary for me during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, I spent much of the past week working on what we call our “year-end story,” an encapsulized review of the major local news stories in the year just completed. As always, I emerge from the experience amazed at all that has happened in a mere 12 months. As I have observed on past occasions, for such a small, and relatively lightly populated place, there sure is a lot that goes on here abouts.
Perhaps you considered 2002 to be uneventful, and perhaps for you it was. In the game I play week in and week out, however, there are few dull moments and there always seems to be more going on than I can get around to.
It would be dishonest of me to say that there aren’t occasions when I miss the life I led before I got into the newspaper business. It was nice to be able to have to look for something to do now and then. But for the past 20 years, anytime I found myself idle, I have been able to count on somebody coming up with something they needed for me to do, usually right now. Oh well, it has kept me out of the bars and pool halls to which the bass side of my nature would lead me, given half a chance.
Speaking of the bass side of my nature, I always wanted to be a bass, but God had other plans, making me a tenor. I know, I know. That was a lame gag. They can’t all be gems.
In the year to come, I hope to be able to avoid such patently tasteless humor, but I wouldn’t count on it if I were you. That is not a new year’s resolution I would have a great deal of faith in keeping.
I trust all of you, gentle readers, will find 2003 to be a prosperous and fulfilling year. And I would be so bold as to offer a few suggestions, especially to the younger folks among you, on how to increase the odds of that coming to pass.
First of all, never draw to an inside straight. The poker players out there will understand this reference and can explain it to everybody else. It has a wealth of applications beyond the poker table.
Next, remember that the sun will come up tomorow, whatever else happens. In other words, no matter how badly you mess something up, most likely you’ll get a chance to do better.
Lastly, don’t be satisfied doing the best you can with things that happen to you. Do your best to be pro-active. Make things happen. Take charge of your life. You’ll make mistakes, but that’s part of being alive. In an odd sort of way, making mistakes is comforting, because you know that as long as you’re making them, you have an opportunity to improve. You don’t stop making mistakes until you stop doing other interesting things, too, like breathing.
In any event, Happy New Year, y’all.