My Dad died in 2010, and that year was still the best of my life. He had cancer and died at home in the loving embrace of his family. I was there when he died, and I was able to make sense of it all. I miss him a lot.

His death did not alter the fact that 2010 was a year where I got my groove back. The birth of Zoe the day after Dad’s birthday was the cherry on the top.

Every year since has been better than that, and thankfully, there has been no trauma to manage. It is all good.

The photo above is as bucolic as it gets. A fireplace on a winter’s day, the family ensconced, eating gingerbread in front of the Christmas tree, dancing around the living room, the dog asleep after a swim in the ocean, me reading and writing and imagining…and reflecting on all that I have. Lucky me.

Well, extrapolate that disgustingly wholesome scene across my year, and you have my current worldview. Happy as a pig in shit.

Some of my current feeling is practical – work, family, hobbies are all aligned. Some of it is philosophical – I am out from under the overhang that the world owes me something without me having to turn up whole.

The stars have aligned, anyway, and as another year ends, I raise a glass to those who have helped me navigate this space. I hope you can see greatness when it is near, and sense opportunity that is only momentarily out of reach. Cheers!

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