22 IN MY REAR VIEW

In my younger days, I used to obsess over New Year’s resolutions.  I wrote each one down in detail.  In hindsight, I had far more resolutions than I could ever begin to manage and they quickly went by the wayside (usually by mid January).

I usually don’t spend much time reflecting on the past year, but I came across this post about taking a personal retreat in December.

I was somewhat intrigued and decided to do a ‘retreat lite’.  But before I do that, I want to reflect a bit on our world as 2022 comes to a close.

We’ve had heat domes, smoke events, ice storms, and killer winter storms.  COVID has waxed, waned, and is waxing again.  Gas prices went up and seem to be going down. The stock market is a daily mystery.  And then there were multiple mass shootings and the list goes on and on!

Of particular note:

• The courage of President Zelensky and the people of Ukraine
• Speaking of courage, the courage of Republicans Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, to defy most of their party and stand up for democracy by serving on the January 6^th Committee
• Speaking of democracy, the results of the midterm elections were reassuring
• Speaking of the midterm elections, the humble and hardworking Patty Murray was elected to her 6^th term in the U.S. Senate
• And finally, passage of the Respect for Marriage Act

Former Sunday School teacher here. Protecting marriage equality isn’t a threat to anyone’s religious liberty – it’s about our government treating every citizen with equal dignity.

Senator Elizabeth Warren

Now back to my ‘personal retreat’.  The categories suggested in the post are: finances, heart, soul, health, travel, personal, family, community, home, and work.  Since I’m doing the light version, I am going to review travel, family/friends, books, and health😊.

Travel:

We finally did some traveling this year!  We went to Kauai in March, the Netherlands and Italy in May, Montana in June, Vancouver, BC in September, I went to Vail in September, and we made it to Victoria, B.C. in December.  

Family and Friends:

We saw all our grandchildren, except our oldest (age 21) at least once.  We were able to catch up with our daughters and their husbands too.  Everyone is just really busy! I saw almost all my Montana girlfriends at least once.  And I was able to catch up with my work friends.  My first friend and I have a monthly lunch/walk date that we keep faithfully.  And I am happy to note I made a new friend, one of my goals for 2022.

Books:

I read up a storm this year.  I just counted and I read 114 books in 2022: 49 of those along with my Montana Mystery Zoomers.  I read the Agatha Christies’ Tommy and Tuppence series and all her personal favorites among the many books she wrote over the years. 

Health:

I just celebrated my 70th birthday and this hasn’t been a bad year in the health arena.  I have lost 22# pounds over the past 12 months and recently had a normal cardiac stress test.  My recent endoscopy was also normal.  My only real set back is my diagnosis of macular degeneration.  I walk every day, but boy is it hard to get in the routine of picking up weights for a little strength training.  And my meditation practice is hit or miss.  So far, we are COVID free (that we know of), but the last holdouts seem to be dropping so I’m not holding my breath. 

Thanks for indulging me on my ‘retreat light’ and thanks for taking the time to read my posts.

I’ll see in you in 2023.

Happy New Year!

Allene

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