Resolution Hugs

To my son Tommy,

In that place that is somewhere between dead asleep and having to wake up, I laid there thinking of how I would frame this year that is coming to an end.  What word could sum up the past twelve months?  Perhaps, with the events of the last three months, I should call it the "Year of Medical" or the "Year of the Bowels" but neither of those felt quite right, and to hang a year on the last quarter didn't seem fair.  I gave up for now and got out of bed,

Your mother had already gotten up and gave you breakfast.  If she didn't have belly issues I would have given her a great big squeeze for allowing me to sleep in.  So when I came down, you were well fed and had some serious plans for me.  Capitalizing on your zeal to play, I made us clean up a bit before getting into the games and toys and Christmas gifts.

After a few games and a tickle session, you and I headed to the library.  We had a couple overdue books on my card and a lingering fine on your card.  We turned in our books and paid the two dollars worth of fines we had racked up, and were set to start the new year with a clean slate.

Still, I had this thought in my mind of how to describe the past year.  When we got home from the library, I turned to the Internet searching for answers or ideas.  I looked at last year's blog entry and realized it could probably be used again.  At first, this depressed me that the template for year end hadn't changed, but then I had a small epiphany.  Life really doesn't change much year to year if you look at it in a broad sense.  This year, same as last, was once again filled with highs and lows, victories and tragedies, triumphs and failures, and all the things that make life... well ... life.  The details might have changed slightly, some of the wins this year were in your food challenges and your growing up while the losses were with Mommy's Crohn's disease, but the more it changes the more it stays the same.

I decided to consult the expert, to seek the wisdom of the soon to be five year old.  I explained resolutions to you and asked you what we did the best in the past year and what we should do more of next year.  Your answer, "Hugs!"  Once again your simple brilliance and wisdom has saved your father from going insane trying to quantify and qualify our past year.  The best thing we did was give hugs and in the upcoming year we resolve to give more hugs to more of our loved ones more often.  That is a resolution I can get behind.

Sincerely with love from your dad,

Leo