Two things I forgot to mention:

One, I will spare you the customary list of resolutions. Nobody, including me, ever follows through with them anyway. I simply hope each year is better than the last, not just for me but for everyone.

Two, a friend of mine left town this holiday after living here for nearly a year. I feel oddly bereft despite the fact that we weren’t terribly close nor did we manage to see very much of each other due to our extremely bizarre and conflicting schedules. His departure is not so much going to leave a hole in my social life as it leaves me missing just knowing he is here in town. The connection we shared was through college which was a difficult time and one that isn’t easily understood by anyone who didn’t go through that particular department at that school during that period in time. He was two years ahead of me in school and we weren’t even particularly friendly with each other back then (twenty years ago – ouch), but we had this shared experience that gave us a bond of sorts. I don’t know if he thinks of it that way, but I do. Until he came back into my life last year I hadn’t realized how deeply I felt bonded to a few people I knew so briefly and so long ago. I wish him luck in his next venture and hope we will stay in touch.