My kitchen window, from where I watch the cows, and regroup after a bad year.
I have to admit, I'm glad to see the end of 2007. It was a particularly bad year for me, in many personal ways. I lost my mom in May, and in August my youngest daughter moved away to college, leaving a terrible emptiness in our house. More happened too, that I haven't blogged about. For a good six months, I was hit with a series of minor blows that, combined, had a major impact on my mood. It all added up to a pretty rotten year.
But it wasn't all bad, I'm forced to admit. I watched my daughter graduate, the head of her class, one of the proudest moments of my life. I watched from afar as my older daughter discovered her true calling, teaching. I traveled to beautiful places—Rome, Paris, northern Wales, Cornwall, and New England. I've eaten in fancy restaurants, gone to markets to buy fresh produce, explored new foods in my well-stocked kitchen. I've walked up and down hills, through quiet villages, across pastures full of fat sheep and watchful cows, through woods full of bluebells. I spent quiet moments with just my dog, and the occasional cow.
I'm healthy; wealthy, at least when compared to many people on the earth; and wiser than I was last year.
It sounds churlish to complain, yet all in all, 2007 was a rotten year. I'm glad it's over.
On to better things, please.
