28 December 2012 ~ THE YEAR OF 2012; ALL IN ALL,
A GOOD YEAR
This will not
be like my usual blogs; this is also a newsletter of sorts. Normal service will resume in the New Year!
Christmas was
another great time this year. It usually
is in our household. If we have taught
our kids anything at all, it is how to keep Christmas well. Martin may have been on the other side of
Canada but, thanks to iPhone FaceTime, we have managed to share in the season
over the miles. As we were leaving for
church on Christmas Eve it actually started to snow; it is such a beautiful
thing, Christmas snow. So we did get a
white Christmas after all; perfect.
Boxing Day afforded me the chance to get my snow-blower out for the
first time this winter and that was fun.
And again the day after because there was so much of the white stuff;
bloody snow…
A lot of the
‘happenings’ of the year of 2012 I have already written about when I started
publishing my writings with this blog; the second anniversary of my mum passing
away, (ABBREVIATE OR AMPLIFY?), leaving the job I was in for only six months,
(THE VIEW; OTHER-SIDE, INSIDE-OUT OR OUTSIDE-IN), some philosophical thoughts
along the way (A WALK
THROUGH THE WOODS; A MATTER OF FAITH and others), my business trips for training assignments, (FREE AND
CLEAR and ECUADOR; A LAND OF BEAUTY), the visits from England with Jane’s mum,
Brenda, (BRENDA ~ ~ ~ MOTHER-IN-LAW ~ A DELIGHT ~ A PLEASURE ~ A
MOM ~ GRANDMA) and step-mum, Joyce, (I HAVE TWO MOTHER-IN-LAWS ~ AND IT IS
GOOD!), even the great Olympic experience from Great Britain (OLYMPICS AND ALL
THAT).
This
newsletter/blog posting is really about filling in the gaps and also giving
some of my global readers a chance to “come in and know me better, man” as the
ghost of Christmas present would say to Scrooge in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
This year has
brought great change in my kids. Well,
kids wise, they’re not actually kids anymore because they are adults in their
own rite...
I have only
seen my son, Martin, in the summer when he came home from the west coast of
this vast and beautiful country called Canada.
We had a couple of weeks together and managed to get in some golf and
other ‘guy stuff’. It was nice to have
all the family together again. But
Martin has his own life now, as he should.
He is based on Vancouver Island with the Royal Canadian Air Force and is
busy with his work in air traffic control.
We chat all the time, for which I am grateful. I was never very good at that when I was his
age in the Royal Air Force and I am sure my parents were not too pleased with
my selfish self-indulgent attitude back then.
Martin is light-years ahead of me from when I was 23 years old. He seems very happy of late; perhaps because
he has found a young lady, Cara, with whom he shares his life now. My wife, Jane, and I are hoping to meet her
in 2013. She seems like a nice young
woman and it pleases Jane and I no-end to see Martin with a soul-mate and happy
with his lot.
Zoe has
celebrated her ‘first’ anniversary with her soul-mate, Tyson. What a lovely couple they make, too. Just like Martin will make a good husband,
there is no doubt that Zoe will make a great wife and mother one day in the
future; hopefully not the immediate future!
There’s no need to rush things.
My eldest daughter is a college girl now. It does make me feel old when I see how my
children are adults and in relationships.
But there is a reason for that; it’s because I am old! The way Zoe interacts with young children
really is quite impressive; so going in to early childhood education at college
was a good choice.
Alex, my other
daughter, is in grade 12 and will be graduating very soon. That will be the end of an era; no kids at high
school anymore. That will take a bit of
adjusting. Not sure which path Ally will
take yet, and neither is she. All I know
is it won’t involve young children!
Whereas her big sister excels around young ones, Ally excels in other
departments such as math, French, music.
Alex is definitely her own person; sometimes to the point that her
defiance and stance on things can be enough to make a saint swear. I admire that, though, and wouldn’t want to
change her. I don’t know which direction
she will take, but I am confident that it will be on her terms; and I love that
about her. Ally will be alright in the
adult working world, in fact I see her as being a great boss someday.
I just hope
that, when I am really old and wrinkly and sitting in the corner dribbling away
under the tartan blanket, that my kids will still have time for me!
This was the
year that I lost a good and faithful friend.
Our beautiful Irish Setter, Rosie left us all weeping back in October. I was compelled to write a blog about her on
the day she passed away, (ROSIE; A GREAT IDEA).
Such a remarkable dog and I miss her terribly.
My lovely
bride of 26 years, Jane, is still the light of my life. How lucky can you get? Three great kids and a wonderful wife. Jane is still, as always, busy with her child-care
business. On top of that, I don’t know
how, but she has managed to decorate and transform the lower level of our house
in to a really cozy place. This is good
for me because I was kicked out of the spare bedroom on the top level so Jane
could convert it back in to a guest-room; I wasn’t too happy at first. But wow! It is absolutely brilliant downstairs in the
basement now. If Jane wasn’t looking
after kids I would suggest that she start her own business as a designer of
interior homes and gardens because her vision in those departments is
amazing. Of course, she still discusses
everything with me in great detail before we do what she wants. But hey, it’s worked for 26 years so why
change it now; right?
Jane and I
took Zoe and Alex on vacation to Cancun in Mexico back in April. We went with two other families that are
friends of ours. It was a pity Martin
could not be with us, but we all still managed to have a great time. Ally got to spend a whole day with the
dolphins and learned all kinds of things and has many photos and video to
cherish from the experience.
As for me; I
am now a self-employed guy. And I love
it! I do a lot of work from my
home-based office; usually courseware development for aircraft maintenance
training courses, but also regulatory stuff for aviation, too. I remember last Christmas; I was grateful for
the break when I got home. I had been
away from my family a lot more than my new company had led me to believe. As soon as January arrived I was away again almost
immediately; this was very frustrating!
I think I got confused between a ‘secure job’ where I was literally
owned, and the freedom and responsibility of being who and what I am today. I am enjoying the latter much more. I don’t mind the travel because that is the
nature of being an aircraft maintenance instructor, but I was spending way too
much time away from home with the company I left the airline for. In May I flew out to Düsseldorf to meet with
a Russian training company and I would have to say that the two gentlemen that
I met with have impressed me very much.
Our relationship has continued through the year and that is why I am
heading out to Russia next year to spend some time with them. If things go as we hope they will, I shall be
spending quite a bit of time in Russia in 2013.
Upon
reflection, our family has been blessed with a good year. Nothing too traumatic, but a few ups and
downs just like any other family. No
complaints but many blessings to count.
As for the
rest of the world in 2012; hmm… There
have certainly been some great moments, but I won’t dwell on them here. There are web-sites abound that address all
of that. There have also been some
tragic moments, and again I am not going to dwell. But through it all we have somehow survived
another world-ending event! So I will
close out my last blog of 2012 by just focusing on the usual year-ending ritual;
New Year Resolutions. I don’t plan on
publishing any of my own. But here are three
from an ancient list of ten that might be of interest to some; I’m particularly
fond of all ten, myself. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
×
Honor
thy father and thy mother.
×
Thou
shalt not kill.
×
Thou
shalt not steal.
