My Year in Review - What was Remarkable?

A remarkable view of Bogota!

One thing about a personal blog ... no one stands over your shoulders telling you what you should or should not say. And since my blog has a small audience with an obscure URL that is hidden from google search engines, for my purposes here, my topics do not have to be remarkable for me to remark about them, so I just continue to blather on and on without much feedback.

In fact this year of living in retirement was quite routine and often more than a little boring ... one might say, unremarkable.

Time spent in Florida dog-sitting the grand dog (as pleasant an excuse to escape winter weather in West Michigan as that is) has become the new normal.

Spending an occasional weekend in NYC (as exciting as that can be) has also become my new normal.

Okay, the trip to Colombia this year was not so ordinary, even in our circles of frequently-traveling retirees.

So here goes my attempt to reflect on this, the 8th year since retiring rose first embarked--with trepidation--on the journey into the blogosphere.

I am (duh) one year older, and now on two prescription drugs. When I remember, I take various supplements--always at least one baby aspirin a day, almost always a Centrum Silver for women, Calcium with vitamin D in the winter, and occasionally adding CoQ10, krill oil, and Glucosamine Chondroitin to the routine.

This was the first year the husband was fully retired, although he took on part-time work for two months. I earn a little money in the summertime.

I am still doing about as much physical work in the world of all things green and blooming as my back can handle. And that is nothing new. Just doing a few less hours per day with every passing year.

My volunteer work hours in the church gardens were probably at the highest level to date, during the growing season, but still, pretty routine, with some gloriously successful results.

A newly acquired riding mower this spring for the student rental house happily reduced my work load slightly this year, since the newly-retired husband took over.

Different this year was a twisted knee in the spring and then more trouble than ever in the summer with the heat index, exacerbated for a time by a power outage while I was temporarily taking a new medication that made me feel hot and weak. (The only thing that saved me was a continuously air-conditioned house).

Even with a now fully-healed knee and no specific problems, every year seems to become physically more difficult ... and after I rest or sit for awhile, everything feels stiff when I try to move again!

Nothing remarkable about that either, I suppose, at my age.

I had some fun times with family and friends, to be sure. I played Words with Friends with some new friends, for sure. I agreed to add a few select new FB friends (replacing those I un-friended during the grueling election season, lol! An older brother joined Facebook! And an older, long-lost cousin. Another cousin came back to town, but is not a Facebook friend.

But with after-Christmas, end of the year reflection, I sometimes get a little ... not quite depressed, but at least repressed. And with all the societal pressure to enjoy the happy holidays, to make all things merry and brite, the temptation to eat favorite holiday indulgences which make me feel bloated and sloggy, the inclement weather, the reduced daylight and sunshine, and not that much interesting or challenging to do (while hibernating), I usually am feeling down by the end of the year.

I usually pepper my end-of-the-year posts with fragmented thoughts and trailing dots...

I suppose I am most unhappy when I (take the time to) think about my bursting closets, my stuffed basement, my aging house and furniture ... and sometimes, when I really look into the mirror at my aging face and body and think about the limited wardrobe and makeup options that seem to still work for that face and that body!

I suspect that none of this, either, is terribly remarkable at my age, income level, or place in society.

But upon some reflection, two things this year have been remarkable to me!

FIRST. What was especially remarkable to me this year in my personal life?

The ever-advancing role of technology in my life (and in the world) was, and is, amazing to me!

The fact that I can watch my cable channels and recordings from anywhere (well, not in Bogota I found out!) on my smart phone or Kindle--remarkable.

The fact that I can drive with up-to-the-minute road and traffic conditions and cop-sightings, all the way to a new destination, by the fastest route possible--remarkable.

The fact that I can track the path of the one-pound pears from an Oregon orchard through Ohio and New Jersey, etc. all the way to NYC--even if they didn't make it for Christmas as was promised--remarkable.

The fact that Amazon can deliver almost anything to my porch in just two days--remarkable. (The husband loves this. He recently ordered a case of SPAM!)

The fact that our new smart television (ordered this week in anticipation of the death of our now 11-year-old rear-projection set) will be able to coordinate with Alexa with voice commands--remarkable.

Currently the old TV will not restart easily, so it is running day and night with that new lamp! It still has a great picture and that is why we have kept it so long!

(My brother, who always drove his cars to maximum mileage--sometimes until there were holes under his feet should appreciate how long we have maintained our old TV. He bought a brand new car this year, finally, and we are getting a new TV, finally. Fortunately, a large TV has become quite affordable.)

The fact that all the photos I take appear automatically and freely (well, I pay $5 a year) in multiple "clouds"--amazing!

Live streaming has made so many things accessible--and google searching has brought instant answers to so much.

 I am still in awe of these technological advances, which the younger generation now takes for granted.

SECOND. What was remarkable to me in my not-so-personal life this year?

Terrorist attacks (even in a location in NYC where I have been) are sadly, no longer so remarkable...

The Las Vegas shooting was the worst ever mass shooting in this country, with 58 dead people and no known motive, but how soon will that memory fade?

A horrendous church shooting horrifies but does not really surprise.

North Korea, under "little rocket man," flexing its military muscles. No longer remarkable...

Devastating fires in California are really not that unexpected...

The hurricanes seemed particularly destructive this year. But nothing new...

A new surfacing of "white supremacists" seemed to threaten race relations further ... but we knew these things were right under the surface and ready to flare up.

Lots of very bad terrible no good things continued to happen this past year! Lots of evil was perpetrated. Lots of sinning occurred. Lots of (the 10) commandments were broken! Lots of people cheated on their taxes and their spouses. Lots of sexual harassment was exposed...

But the most remarkable thing about the year 2017...

was (the election) and the first year of the presidency of Donald J. Trump.

Where does one even begin remarking on the Tweeter-in-Chief who so dominated the news cycles this year?

A good place to begin, I think, is with the 25% increase in the stock market. I was hoping the Dow Jones average would top 25,000 by December 25, but the 25% increase was a good enough Christmas present.

The stock market index was rising under the previous administration, but the recent surge, I think, reflects the optimism in the country (even before a firm tax bill was passed) for the growth-friendly policies anticipated to continue in a Trump administration, along with the fact that majorities in both houses are held by the same party.

Other economic indicators are also positive: GDP, job growth, lower unemployment numbers, housing starts.   
  
It has been a good year for us, too! And hopefully for you!

But the other remarkable thing has been the news frenzy stirred up by President Trump and his tweets. Sometimes it seemed that nothing else was going on in the world, good or bad. Much of the main stream media (and a few congressman calling every day for impeachment) seemed obsessed (deranged?), hoping to bring this president down, analyzing each new tweet and each new controversy, often reaching conclusions that were not properly sourced and turning out not to be true. Positive reports on the economy or military success with ISIS, for instance, or a lingering whiff of a scandal from the previous administration were not deemed newsworthy.

Much of the reporting seemed to reflect an end of the world as we know it perspective. Armageddon. Russia. Collusion. Endless investigations. An Independent Counsel.

Others on "the right" were proclaiming it to be the death of the media as we (used to) know it.

The hatefulness seemed disproportionate, visceral, personal ... awful.

But Trump has continued to fight back and fight on, ever the happy warrior, determined to undo the policies of the previous administration and Make America Great Again. And those on the "left" fumed and stewed and threatened to sue. More "safe spaces" were needed. More pet therapy was provided. Women marched in Washington with pink vagina hats on their heads, some threatening to burn down the White House. (Vaginas were perceived to be under attack).

And then the irony, more recently, as many, especially on "the left" including congressmen, Hollywood types and newsmen--fell from grace or were fired with the exposure of their own attacks on vaginas (and breasts and butts!).

What a crazy year it has been!

REMARKABLE!

(I can hardly ... or maybe can't hardly ... wait to see what happens in 2018! Never a dull moment in the world of politics lately!)