. . . remembered a decade

but anticipated the future. I remember exactly what I was doing on December 31, 1999 and January 1, 2000. I was so inspired by the whole world celebrating a new millenium. I remember my hopes and dreams, plans and preparations.


After living almost sixty years, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that nothing turned out like I had expected. It rarely does. For the past couple of weeks, I have been analyzing this last decade, as artificial a time delineator as any other, and I had come to the conclusion that it had been a really lousy decade.


But wait. This decade gave me a wonderful son-in-law and three amazing grandchildren. That alone should put this decade in the "best of a lifetime" category. During this decade, my creativity flourished; I would not have even considered that a possibility ten years ago. I had the luxury of leisure time. I learned a lot, about things that interested me. I lost one dear friend and my wonderful father-in-law to death, and another relationship to stupidity, but gained and reconnected with friends, in person and on the internet. I gained, and then lost, material wealth, and found out that I didn't even want any more "things." I lost a 38-year marriage, but I gained the knowledge that I was capable of surviving that loss and I learned that there were really very few limitations to what I could do for myself. I learned to forgive myself and to be kinder and calmer. And, best of all, I can now say, "I am an artist." And, as you all know, art will save the world. We just have to wait for the world to figure that out.


So, overall, I will rate the 00s as a net gain. And hope to hell I can say the same ten years from today. Happy new year, everyone.