Hello, New Year

Friday, January 03, 2025

It’s not easy writing “2025” after long months of 2024. Soon, we’ll all adjust.

This year is the first I’ve not made resolutions because they usually drift to meaninglessness. Instead, I’m permitting myself to enjoy feeling optimistic and not trying to put my fingers squarely on “what about” and why. I am happy to have good friends and neighbors, appreciate my part-time department store job, and enjoy my critters, inside and outside.

All those are evolving toward a new and acceptable resolution to continue doing what’s already happening. I will also actively work to improve “sticky situations” when possible.

My perspective embraces the efforts a neighbor and I are making to patch long-standing differences. Years ago, we bumped heads over something unimportant and quit interacting with or speaking to each other.

What’s different are fallouts from life’s realities. We are single women with independent households, and we are aging. Simply put, our needs are different than in the past. We have recognized that collaborating would benefit us mutually. We have agreed to keep closer, more helpful eyes on one another. We will have the keys to one another’s homes and be more active socially.

We’ve always had much in common–our politics and love for animals–but unfortunately, our personalities didn’t mesh effectively. Ahead will be different because we’ve talked, want to, and are willing to collaborate.

I blocked my neighbor from my mind successfully and for a long time. Suddenly, in the early days of this new year, I find myself equally astonished and comforted by a strong sense of relief in knowing my neighbor and I can be friends.

Dear Friends: This “heavy world” makes feeling optimistic even greater. Diana