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Happy 2007 ! Our New Year was rung in with lots of noise and a night of good food and games !It always seems like the previous year just ended.I don't know if that's about getting older or if it's about how much of my time is spent " waiting ". You know, in traffic, in lines at the store, lines at the doctor. As kids we could cram so much into a day . It occurs to me just how much time I spend now in a state of " unproductive ". I kinda long for the days where I could ride my bike for hours down by the new housing projects. There were streets, but only mounds of dirt where construction had yet to begin. We had tracks and trails ... we could park our bikes, run off to the edge of the street and pick fistfuls of blackberries for a snack. The only rule was to occasionally check in and be home by dinner. It isn't like that now ... I know from the lives of Nat and Blake just how different it is.

Gramps had a birthday, too ! 96 this year ! He's adjusting ( slowly and begrudgingly ) to his new residence. He had a great day yesterday with his whole family there to help him usher in the New Year ! He's really in remarkable shape and we're lucky to have him with us so long. He has MANY stories. And while some get recycled pretty frequently, others are like little gems when we hear them. It's an interesting cycle of life. I remember the days I spoke of a minute ago, where time moved slower and life seemed fuller. Then it cycles into the life I have now, busy and cluttered with time not well spent. And the completion of the cycle is after retirement, when life slows down again. To a crawl for some.

I won't wish my days away, but I'm saving stacks of books to read " someday " . I have boxes of stuff I'll go through " someday ". Letters I'll answer or initiate, pictures I'll catalog, scrapbooks I'll compile. But for now I'll try to just get the most out of the ordinary days, and the best out of the busy ones.

Hope it was a great New Year's Day for everyone.