Well, as we make ready to change calendars, it’s good to take stock of the year behind us. Hopefully, you’ve got some time off to sit, think, reflect, and count blessings and other small victories of the past year. No worry for anything that might overshadow – we’re all overshadowed by things bigger than any of us. But, the shadow often breaks for a moment and some light lands on us, be it a friendly smile, a kind word, or a good friend. And the light lands on us whether we give or receive of those things.

For me, it’s Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It’s a grand thank-you to all the people on this forum for being a friend to me. A friend is not someone who agrees all the time. A friend is quite often someone that will never see eye-to-eye with you on some things, but is in full agreement that friendship is much, much more than that. Friendship is in sharing difficult news, it’s in providing a listening ear – or listening eye, if you’re online, and it’s in seeking out someone to share a laugh with you.

Thank you friends, and may we be together come the next time we collectively observe another trip around the sun.