annus mirabilis

I am not one for New Year’s resolutions, I reserve life changing promises for the new year which begins at the end of school, when teachers and students have an entire summer to reflect and reset for a new year. Sometimes these promises work and sometimes, they don’t.

The beginning of 2023 is no different. I’ve been reading posts on the blogosphere and social media disparaging the recently completed year, 2022. I suppose for some 2022 wasn’t the year for them. I read support for the recently completed year, as well.

On the whole, 2022 was, at least for me, an improvement on the previous year. It wasn’t perfect, but most years aren’t.

Early this morning, I discovered a new word – annus mirabilis, or a remarkable or notable year. I found it checking the meaning of another word with my Merriam-Webster app.

I’ve been blogging since the end of the school year in 2010. Blogging was a resolution then, but really it was more of a reaction to an annus horribilis. This post will mark my 728th post that I have published across fourteen consecutive years. That one resolution has changed my life in so many ways.

a Northern Cardinal at the feeder, Monday December 26, 2022

As I reflected this morning, I went back in time to review my previous New Year’s posts and they are below. Remarkably, I’ve written a new year’s post every year except last year.

New Year’s past

I don’t know what this year has in store for me. I do know, I can choose my path and I have faith that I am not alone. I have family and colleagues who will be with me throughout the year.

In 2022, our son married, and I became a father-in-law, and gained a daughter-in-law. Our daughter finished her first full year of college. My wife and I celebrated thirty-one years of marriage. I completed my twenty-third year of teaching. I went to ten baseball games and visited nine new baseball stadiums, leaving ten more to visit on my bucket list. My favorite baseball team won (an untainted) world series title. I began working with a personal trainer to help me reach my fitness goals. Finally, I still publish my blog and read of other’s adventures across the globe. Overall, I believe 2022 was a mirabilis.

Tomorrow, I am flying to Memphis then driving to Oxford, Mississippi to put my stepmother’s home up for sale. I have set aside the entire week to accomplish the task. The home is empty and has been unoccupied since my stepmothers fall in January 2022, it’s a long story and this year I am not driving there and back. W^2 – crossing.

I don’t know what 2023 has in store for me, but I have faith that I’ll be ready for it. I know that I will do my best to keep making each day count. The clock is ticking, and I have much to do before the day comes to finish, so I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Making the Days count, one day at a time, and having faith in a new year.

Happy New Year!

12 thoughts on “annus mirabilis

  1. Congratulations on the new daughter-in-law (and of course congratulations to your son as well), congratulations on your wedding anniversary, and of course to your daughter for getting a school year under her belt. I am hoping for a really good mostly year in 2023. 2022 was really tough for my family…but we support each other and will always be there for each other and that’s all that matters. You’re lucky that way as well. Good luck with the listing, bittersweet I suppose. But it will be good to get that off your list of things to do.

    1. Thank you Dawn. As I looked back on old New Year’s posts I was reminded how each year has it’s good and not so good. Thank you for the good wishes, I am going to trust that now is the time. have a wonderful new year. Peace.

  2. Congratulations on your son’s nuptials. My daughter too married in 2022 and our son gifted us with our first grandchild. A lot of life’s changes and milestones with the passing of yet another year. Cheers to a very Happy New Year filled with wonderful events and memories!

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