Picture of the Week - 12/29/2016

2016 is nearly over.  Thoughts?

There seems to be an overwhelming swell of emotion on social media recently about how bad 2016 has been.  The general feeling seems to be that 2016 is evil and nasty and somehow has controlled events and contributed to results.  The common theme, again if you judge by volume of posts on social media, is clearly one of "good riddance".  And that somehow the passage of one year to the next will change things.  That whatever forces are at work will change with the calendar.  

For me, I'm not so sure.  

I think the last year, the last 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days have been pretty much in line with those before.  There have clearly been ups and downs this year - both personally impacting me and my family as well as the bigger picture stuff.  

But here's the thing...  if the collective mind-share out in the internet was talking about what a great year 2016 was (despite some sad stuff that happened) would it make YOU feel differently about the last year?  If social media was telling you that 2016 rocked (even though it was hard sometimes), would you think it rocked too?  Does it matter to you that other people say 2016 was awful (even if it had some OK moments)?  If you aren't sure, then I'm gonna suggest you put too much emphasis on what other people (some you don't even know) think.  

For me and my family, 2016 was super super busy and had way too many healthcare related "things".  It was often hard to slow down enough to even recognize the good things around us.  And it was easy to get sad about healthcare stuff causing us to change plans, miss things, just not feel well.  

2016 was also a year of some pretty awesome accomplishments.  You read all about all of them - thank you for sticking with us through another year.  

I'm looking forward to 2017 in the same way I looked forward to 2016.  I expect many more great things as we get ready to celebrate having 2 teenagers in the house, a new high school student, getting Beck out of daycare, coaching 4 lacrosse teams, cheering on football and wrestling, a 5th Buckeye cruise and another week at the beach, birthdays for 13, 15, 8 and 6 year olds, more holidays with family, and a 20th wedding anniversary.  2017 will undoubtedly also have challenges.  Some I can see coming, likely many more that we don't even know about year.  That's life, y'all.  

So bring it!  Bring all the good stuff and also the less than great...  it's those hard times that make the good stuff so much sweeter.  

Have a safe and happy New Year's Eve!  We will be eating fajitas and watching the Buckeyes from the comfort of our loud and crazy living room.  Talk to you NEXT YEAR!