Thinking … Too Much

I just heard that there are only 365 shopping days until Christmas (2020 is a leap year).

“Grandpas are dads without rules”

Swell.

Christmas seemed different this year. It was a great day, but it was different.

We weren’t running around from place to place as we often have in years past… Maybe that was it?

Adeline Louise

Could it be because I’m older? … Well, I can’t do anything about that.

Maybe because it is our first Christmas with our granddaughter? … What a blessing Adeline has been to our family.

Might it be because it was the first Christmas without my father? … My mother gave me his Old Spice aftershave a few weeks ago and I wore some yesterday in his memory. I miss talking to him every day.

Perhaps it was hearing our county coroner dispatched twice around 7am because people “woke up dead” on Christmas morning?… That sucks for them and their families and I probably should listen to the scanner less.

Maybe it had to do with finding out that the brother of a blogging buddy died at the age of 51?…  It was a sad situation, made worse by his death on Christmas morning.

Dad’s, now my, Old Spice

Maybe I unconsciously got that sense of eschatological urgency, understanding that the next thing I know might be the last thing I know? … That comes from 30+ years at the funeral home and Fire/EMS, developing a mature attitude about life and death. It has not always been a fun lesson to learn

Good and bad combined to create “Different.”

2019 has been a trying year, I’m tired, and looking forward to January.

Tomorrow has meetings, community service, opportunities and another chance to smile in 2019.

I’m ready to go.