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New Year’s Eve. A time for endings as well as new beginnings.

 

For the record, as of today, I have been retired for three years.

 

Man, time flies.

 

During this past year there have been concerns, even from family, that we spend too much time on politics. We do certainly spend a lot trying to educate, motivate, and make a difference. But here’s a quick retirement-after-3-years recap: We have been on 36 vacations including eight National Parks, five cruises, and places ranging from Japan and Australia to Germany and Croatia. I’ve been to more than 100 concerts; had breakfast with Michael McDonald; started some new lifelong friendships; bought a killer audio-visual system; found the holy grail pressing of the favorite album by my favorite band; and learned how to cook.  We also co-founded a Political Action Committee, Seismic Resistance.

 

However, one thing has consumed more of my time than any other. I’ve been posting at least once per day, every day, for the past 450+ days. I have developed, researched, written, and edited at least 500 posts (all analog; no AI) to educate, enlighten, inspire, and/or entertain you, my friends. (And they must resonate because there were more than 950,000 views just in the past four weeks.) But next year we have an election for all the marbles to either stop this insanity or there is a very real chance our country won’t fully recover from the dismantling of basic services and safeguards, the abdication of leadership on the world stage, and the cruelty, during the remainder of our lifetimes. Or at least during my lifetime.

 

So, it is time to step back a bit. Recharge the batteries. Guard my mental health from the daily Trump vitriol and concomitant doomscrolling for at least a little while. That way I can maintain the needed intensity when crunch time comes next year. When it really counts. Oh, I’ll still produce posts for you, just not every single day.

 

But it’s also the final Wellness Wednesday of the year. For those who love music (and that’s all of you!), below are some photos that I hope will make you smile and bring back fond memories.

 

Finally, since we are going to slow down our travel next year…we are here for you to visit and chill/party with. Here’s to a very healthy, peaceful and happy New Year! May each sunrise of this coming year bring you hope and each sunset bring you peace.