The end is near. All years have an ending, and then a second later on, new one begins. Regardless of what you believe about the very beginning of time, that’s the way it has been forever.

I had a friend who had suffered through many years of being down on his luck tell me that as far as he was concerned the end of any year was in effect; good riddance. That might be said of 2017 and Harvey’s visit to many of us in Calhoun County.

On the other hand, if you are still around, you could say I am happy that it wasn’t worse. If you are an Astros’ fan, you might be exuberant about how the year ended.  Injuries have rather ruined the Texans hope for this year.  And so it goes.

One might be reminded of the Clint Eastwood movie, the Good the Bad and . . . so on.  It seems that things just don’t go all one way.   As my Mom used to say, “This too shall pass”. The hard part is remembering that saying includes good times also.

This is the Holiday Season. Many of us celebrate Christmas. In fact, many of the world’s religions have celebrations that happen around the end of our yearly calendar. That implies a New Year starting.

The major cycles of life follow the yearly cycle.  Mathematicians are familiar with the Sinusoidal nature of cycles. They have some highs, some lows, and in pure math vacillate around a common line.  When one is young that line seems to be trending up. As we grow older it also seems to curve towards flat and for some of us it begins to trend downward.  However, in all cases there is the up and down fluctuation.

One hopes your trend is up because that is more fun than the downward one. And as usual, the perception of which way it is trending can be dependent on your attitude. Like time, life will move on and it is better to look forward to that movement.

Sometimes there are imminent changes in your life and you have to physically move on.  Such a time for me is now. Many reasons dictate that it is time to do just that.
And so this is the last time I will be able to reflect on life with you in this paper. I have enjoyed sharing my thoughts with you and hope you have enjoyed some of them also.

It is time to retire; not only to bed, but to a less venturesome life and let others assist in the everyday chores of life.  I was never a military soldier, but like old soldiers I must fade away. C’est la vie. I will bask in memories of joys of past, and nap while dreaming of future joys.

My fondest hope is that you will have a joyous and happy future.    -Phil Ellenberger