I always use this time of year to reflect….and to anticipate. I look back at the year past….and I try to get my footing as I enter another calendar year.
As I assess 2010, it is hard to not just admit that it was a very good year. I enjoy my career and the people I work beside each day. I don’t recall being so positive in my entire career which stretches back to those early newspaper days of 1975 (the same year Drew Barrymore was born). My God, isn’t she older than that? I mean it seems she has to be at least 50….doesn’t she? That seems to happen more and more to me. I tend to think of someone being 60 as being someone on the cusp of retirement and fossilizing in front of me. But that is only six-and-a-half years away!
Back to the topic-------I love going to work every day and the challenges do not defeat me….they only inspire me.
Carol and I enjoy the temperate climate that is West Texas. I can go for a walk on Christmas Day in a sweatshirt. I can watch my beloved hounds laying in the bright sunshine out the back window.
We continue our quest to see all of Texas and that is a challenge. It is a big damned state. This year we explored the Davis Mountains, Amarillo, and part of the Hill Country. Our Texas bucket list includes Corpus, Galveston and the Big Bend. We’ll get there eventually.
I find myself reflecting on the wedding of my oldest to a beautiful and loving spouse as one of the high points of the year past. My youngest moved away for college…but decided he wants to come back to the Republic for the remainder of his bachelors. That is good news. My middle son, Douglas, has found a significant and positive relationship in his life and that makes him happy……so it makes me happy.
Now, as for 2011….I want to think the best…..But there are things on the horizon that furrow my brow. At the top of the list is the deployment of Ryan….Carol’s oldest and my step-son. He will go to Afghanistan in the spring and we are prayerfully hoping out loud that his assignment will not put him in harm’s way.
The college faces significant challenges. The state of Texas is pulling money out of community colleges with utter distain for our mission to lift up the communities we serve. Something’s gotta give. WTC must continue to grow….but it is a most difficult task when funds for new programs or efforts to improve retention are under budget attack. Dr. Robert Shuler once said: “Tough times never last….Tough people do.” We will weather this storm.
Typically our society demands that we come up with bogus “New Year’s Resolutions”----things like losing weight or starting an exercise regimen…and write them down only to forget them before February. I wrote on my Facebook page on New Year’s Eve: “A New Year: A fresh start for our old habits.”
Here’s an idea for a resolution that makes more sense to me….
We should pray for peace in each other’s lives. Personal peace can really only be accomplished with the Almighty’s help. I hope you find that personal peace in 2011.
Shalom.
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