2013, don't let the door hit you as you leave.

I suppose I should stay positive:  Rather than remember Cliff's terrible brush with death in April (yes, the surgeon said he could have died), I should celebrate that he lived and recovered fully.  

Rather than mourn two cows, a yearling heifer, and a newborn calf that died this year (half my herd), I should thank God for plenty of meat in the freezer and the four remaining young cows.  

Instead of recalling all the things that have gone wrong with my daughter's procedures this year, I should be thankful she is a cancer survivor. 

Let's not even talk about the move back to the old house.  

The brightest spot in our lives has been Cora, the baby we watch.  She isn't here that much, but we treasure those times when she is in our lives.  I'm thinking I need to find me a five-day-a-week baby to watch next time.  

As for resolutions, the only one I have is similar to the one last year:  I intend to maintain my weight.  Since going for walks hurts too much these days, I need to figure out some other kinds of exercises that don't involve my knees.  I have some weights I could work with a little for upper body strength, and there are plenty of exercises I know I can do.  I just need to push away from the computer and do it.

I have been spending a lot of time at the new computer, partly because I've been going back through those old poems I wrote years ago.  Even the lousy ones often tell a story of something that happened back then, good or bad, and once I get started reading those, I can't seem to stop.  Someone I used to work with asked yesterday, on Facebook, if I had ever written any poems about her.  We worked together in the late 70's, and that was before I got my first word processor, so I told her I really don't recall.  That little conversation reminded me that somewhere, probably stored in the garage at the mobile home, there is a spiral notebook with words to songs I wrote back then.  When the temperatures warm up I'll go digging and see what I can find.  

But I digress.  

I really just want to wish all my readers, Facebook friends, and real-life friends and relatives a Happy New Year.  I survived 2013, and I'm heading into 2014 full throttle.  Won't you join me?