Before counting down to Birthday Sixty, I need to reflect upon the past year. December 2012 was memorable due to my bout with the flu. Knocked me down and out for three weeks. The symptoms of lethargy, body aches, chills and general loss of pleasure in eating wrought a blanket of depression. I self-diagnosed and went into fighting mode to stave off the more serious diagnosis of Clinical Depression. The Christmas holiday brought the three kids and assorted friends. Their bantering and playing and the general hosting duties of food preparation and clean-up was a tonic. I made some resolutions to boost my defenses and upgrade body/mind/spirit activities. To that end, joined the North Congregational Church Choir, increased my White Mountain Mental Health work days from one to two per week, committed to at least one weekly yoga class and walk Hank daily, rain or shine. I attended my book club meetings regularly and kept the monthly breakfast group to its promised schedule. I added advising responsibilities to my Springfield College duties and resolved to teach one more year-long Group Project class with improved results. The garden is a constant in our lives and we paid closer attention to harvesting and preserving the abundant produce. More on that later.

Paying attention to my new priorities brought joy and some interesting bounty. The choir reconnected me to my voice. The simple hymns, mostly in my range helped me find my voice again. It’s a small choir and there were times when I was the only soprano. I gave up mid-year, with the realization that I didn’t need to be there once Reverend Sprout retired. I had not known that he was closing in on the end of a 30 year career at North Church. He left with pride and happiness. His sermons were inspired and there were times when my own memories from my 10 year membership were sparked. I had left the church without rancor, but certainly unceremoniously. The six months of attending services at North Church provided closure to one circle in my life.

So, in summary, I resolved to improve the Project Course, sing in the choir, learn how to be an an Undergrad Advisor and preserve more produce from the garden. Check. Oh, I scored a PCP and followed through with a colonscopy. The alpha/beta of that particular experience.

Challenges for 2014: learn to speak conversational french, participate in 3 weekly yoga classes, travel to Provence and Puerto Rico, maintain a daily blog, work on the novel, hang in there as a therapist in community mental health. If I sing and play the guitar again, it will be frosting on this delicious cake.

Craig and Hank Christmas 2013.