The last 10 years

The end of the year usually brings with it review and reflection of the 12 months gone by.

But with 2019 being the end of the 2010s — although the decade doesn’t actually end until next year — those reviews and reflections of the past year share space with a look back at the 10 years gone by.

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Remember when the world was going to end because the computers were messed up?

It occurred to me the other day that Jan. 1, 2020, is the 20th anniversary of the world not coming to a horrible end due to Y2K. This is originally from July 28, 2014.

Today, my wife and I went to Boston to meet up with an old friend of hers who’s in town on vacation with his 13-year-old niece.

He’s a funny guy, and she seemed like a really great kid. At one point, we were talking about various things she wouldn’t know about by virtue of being only 13 — after all, she was a newborn around the time of 9/11 — when I brought up Y2K.

What have I enjoyed writing about?

By my count, I’ve written more than 200 blog posts this year.

Is that a lot? It feels like a lot, but then I know of some people who post several a day, so maybe not.

Every one of them, I thought was a good idea when I wrote it, but as I look back, so many of them have me feeling “meh” at best.

The week gone by — Dec. 29

So how was everybody’s Christmas?

Merry Christmas!

However you celebrate, with whomever you celebrate, or if you don’t celebrate at all, may today and the days ahead be more than you could have hoped for.

Christmas Eve at church

“Knees on kneeler, butt on seat.”

This was a vital lesson Suzi taught me the first time I went to Christmas Eve services with her parents, since I’m not Catholic and rarely went to church.

My knees continue to thank her to this day.

Writing around the world

One of the great things about being online is that you can connect with people you wouldn’t have met otherwise, wherever they’re from.

For example, someone from Malta, of all places, found my blog in the past year. I’ve never been there, and don’t think I’ve ever written anything about it, but this person found my blog, clicked on a link …

… and never came back.

The week gone by — Dec. 22

You can get all your shopping done in record time, have all your decorations on point and made the greatest Christmas cookies in the world, but there’s one thing you can’t control.

The weather. If you’re traveling, and it sucks, you’re screwed.

It almost bit us a couple years ago, when it snowed overnight Christmas Eve and was snowing in the morning when Suzi and I were going to go from Williamstown to my parents’ house in New York.

And there are just a few winding mountain roads along the way.

The things that money can buy

It’s rare that I’m stumped by a question — or, more accurately, rare that I’ll admit to being stumped by a question — but this one had me flailing for an answer.

Not my problem anymore

Heading into town, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” on the radio, the sun shining outside the car while I’m warm inside it.

A house on my left has inflatables, including a dragon holding a Christmas gift, on the front lawn. The impatient driver in front of me passes illegally over a double yellow line.

It’s a common route, even now, but I used to take it every day, and about four hours sooner, because it’s the way I used to go to work.