Endings and Beginnings
By Dixie Darr
“I can handle reality in small doses, but as a lifestyle, it's much too confining.”
Lily Tomlin
This year I got my first letter addressed “Dear Senior Citizen.” I figure they bought the mailing list from AARP, because nobody who knows anything about me would DARE address me that way. I threw it out without reading any further, but it set the stage for the way the rest of the year would go.
Up and down. Down and up. I lost my beloved cat, Annie Blue, who had been my companion for twelve years, and spent three days in the hospital myself. Then I won the outstanding teacher award at the University of Phoenix and my book was accepted by an agent. Hurray!
I joined the bell choir at church, a humbling experience, although that wasn’t the reason I joined. I’m getting better at reading music, but the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that, if you make a mistake with conviction, no one will notice the error. Never let them see you sweat! For the first time since junior high, I was a participant in a Christmas program instead of just an observer and that makes me very happy.
It also makes me happy to be able to celebrate the holidays with my parents. After twenty-one years, they are no longer spending winters in Arizona. I’m pretty sure I’m more thrilled about this than they are, although our weather hasn’t been bad SO FAR.
The worst part of the year came the day after Thanksgiving, when my sister-in-law, Carolyn, lost her long battle with lung cancer. That day her suffering ended, but her family’s had just begun. She was one of the sweetest people I ever knew and her loss is a great one. She was 58 years old.
Today’s Kwanzaa principle is Creativity. I’m praying for the creative energy to make 2004 the best year yet.
Happy New Year, everybody!
6:27:51 AM 
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