1. Happy New Year!

2. This marks a new low in that I’ve procrastinated through the whole weekend and the flotsam is going up on Monday. I wish I could say there was a good reason for that, but there isn’t, unless it’s reluctance to talk about the year that is passed. One of my New Year plans is to review my blogging habits and goals to hopefully put out more regular and better-focused content.

3. 2025, for me, will always be the year I lost my mother. That overshadows everything else to the point where it feels odd to even mention other events.

4. Beyond that, 2025 is a year mostly filled with regrets; nothing published, nothing completed, few goals achieved. Overall a sad year that I look back on more with regret than gratitude.

5. But no year is without it’s positives, the best of which being that the events surrounding my mother’s passing gave me a newfound appreciation for my immediate family. I can proudly say that not one of us turned away or shirked their duty during this time, nor really can I even imagine their doing so. We all made it up to say good-bye, those who were able to stayed on as long as they could help my father in the first few weeks of grieving. No one gave a thought to wills or material concerns. I would hope this is true of every family, but other examples I’ve observed recently have shown it not to be the case.

6. Also on the positive is settling into my second full year of teaching. Though I feel I was underprepared and this most recent semester was a bit of a scramble, it has at least given me a better idea of how to approach the job, and I still enjoy it. As of writing this I am again less prepared than I would want to be, but more than I was.

Then there are the friends I’ve made here, the new apartment that replaces the dingy old one, and a greater and growing sense of clarity about my own views and thoughts. I say the old year is more full of regrets than gratitude, but that doesn’t mean the latter column is empty by any means.

7. So begins 2026. May we all come to the end of it full of gratitude and lacking in regrets.