Well another year is over.
Frankly we had serious doubts that we would make it to 2015.
Barring any unforeseen disaster in the next 24 hours we will.
For us 2014 was full of ups and downs.
The highest up was our new grandson and the deepest down was when he took ill and doctors began using the M-word— meningitis.
It took 36 hours to get the test results and we stayed awake for all of them. The day we found out he had the “good kind” of meningitis was one the happiest of the year. The day we held him in our arms for the first time was right up there too.
Yes we are aware that shortly after he gave us his first smile, things went south for us health wise.
But seriously we aren’t that important.
The great Gayle Sayers wrote a book called ‘I am third’.
We read it when we were 13. The story of the title was when ask to name what was important Gayle answered “my family is first, my friends are second and I am third.”
We could not agree more.
The fact that we made it through some very harrowing times is only note worthy because of the people who surrounded us with their kind thoughts and prayers.
If a person lives an entire life without touching another person can it be said they lived at all?
We believe now more than for ever that we give each other context.
Our reality is contingent on the realities of others.
Whether we get or fail to get a passing grade as a son, as a husband, as a father or as a friend is probably the most important judgment of our lives.
In other words if most of the people around you think you are a jerk, you probably are.
The majority can be wrong at times but if no one thinks of you with kindness what was the point of living?