Time passages

Holy smokes. Was 2003 a wild ride or what?

The last week of the year is always a good time to look back, do a little self examination. It’s not something people can do often or should dwell on, but if you don’t take a second to recognize failures and achievements, it’s pretty hard to advance.

I’ve never spent a year so concerned with what other people are doing: the war in Iraq, the tax wranglings at the legislature, the changes in the country due to the War on Terror. I put in my first year as editor of this newspaper. I think we did OK overall, but I also think 2004 is going to be a year full of changes.

My family and I moved from Sparks into a fixer-upper in the Old Southwest. It has basically the same floor plan and square feet of the house in Sparks, but at least it’s 15 years older and a third more expensive. We’ll have been in a year in the last week of February. My spring, summer and autumn weekends were filled with fix-it projects. (Did I write anything about how I pounded a T-post through a 220-volt wire?)

I lost a couple friends this year. Don Dondero was the hardest loss to take. My aunt Jeanette died of the flu in November.

Other people in my sphere had a tempestuous year as well. Hunter started first grade, and so far doesn’t seem too traumatized by the experience. My honey, Kathleen, put in another year as a committed high school teacher. Amy began her last year of high school; Danny began his first. My 70-year-old dad got married.

I guess 2003 was the best of times and the worst of times, just as every year has been since Dickens penned the phrase.

Here’s to 2004.

RTV No. 8: The choices made by the people you choose will decide whether you have a good year or a bad one.