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January 01, 2006

Happy New Year

Where, oh where, did 2005 go? Either time has started to speed up or I have just been so busy that I barely noticed it disappearing into the sunset!

It has been a very mixed year in many ways, there has been a lot of fulfillment, but there have also been more than a few moments of pain and bereavement. MommaBear died at the end of October after a long a difficult fight against cancer, my first wife's father died, also of cancer only a few weeks before that. The list gets longer and one gets ever more conscious of the fact that the generation ahead of one is now almost all gone - and one's own generation is now, to use a rather Pratchettesque metaphor, the group of aging Mayflies hovering just above the water which hides the trout .....

On the upbeat end is the fact that I have added a couple of qualifications to my professional quiver, I have been made a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Fire Fighters and have enjoyed the love and support of a range of friends all over the globe. What more can a man ask for? Well, several things, but that would be pure greed. No, the things I would really like to see in the new year all concern my many friends. I would wish for them to have the joy, love and support they need as they struggle to deal with the things which have given them trouble in the year now past and which will not simply go away in the year ahead.

Some will need help as they cope with children growing up with disabilities, some with coping with marriage failure and their own failing health, others who face the new year alone through the loss of partners or friends. Many face financial hardship as incomes become less certain due to a wide range of factors. For them all, I pray that the Lord will give them all they need in the year ahead. And not just for them , but for everyone I know.

The year ahead promises to be busy, to be challenging and to bring plenty of tears as well as laughter and joy. It was, as someone once remarked, ever thus! For myself the schedule includes a lot more travel, a lot more work, but it also has several things for me to look forward too. Visits from friends, a planned holiday and new friends to make. It will be busy, but it will also be fun.

My friends and all who chance this way in the blogosphere, I wish you all a very happy new year and everything you hope for yourselves in the year ahead.

Prosit Neujahr! to all of you
from Mausi and Gray Monk

Posted by The Gray Monk at January 1, 2006 12:01 AM

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Comments

Happy New Year and many more.

Posted by: vw bug at January 1, 2006 03:15 PM