Looking back, looking forward

Ah, traditions…

2012 comes to a close, 2013 beckons with the promise of new adventures. Well, we hope, anyway.

As years go, this was one. Too many folks left us too soon. Many we will miss in more ways than we can count.

Some folks saw projects go well. Others? Again, 2013 offers the hope of new things. But isn’t this how we usually end the year?

On the whole, I do not have a lot to complain about. For me, 2012 had its up’s and down’s. Some things went as planned, others did not. I am still here and that always beats the alternative.

When I do take time to look back, I have to say that I have been very fortunate as the years go by. Plenty of great experiences with good people. Been to places and seen things that all have meaning in some form or another. Touched a few family memories and taken in the moments. And would love to go back for more.

That does not mean that I am done. Plenty of things I would love to experience. Places that I would enjoy exploring. And more than a few that would bring a circle to completion. One such would to be at Gettysburg for the 150th anniversary. As members of my family, including a great-great grandfather, saw the conflict from various points around the battlefield, to honor them by being there all these years later and remembering the sacrifices they made would be a privilege.

The list of things yet to come does not begin or end there. So much of my family history still to explore on all sides of the proverbial coin.

While I am at it, there are so many places and folks I would like to visit or revisit. Time or other restrictions may not allow all of them, but I think that somehow more than a few of them are still ahead.

Someone once said that it is not the years, but the miles that add up as we pass. I like to think that each one of them offers a moment worth remembering. Memories of the people who were there. And of those yet to be. Like a great vintage to be savored and enjoyed.

So, as 2012 sets sail into the sunset, may 2013 bring us all the hope and promise of things yet to be.