It was a very good year

... was 2015.  It was filled with music and travel and responsibility and challenge, with more success than failure, with more joy than disappointment.  2015 brought change and stability, effort and enjoyment, prudence and indulgence, reward and sacrifice, stress and calm.  Would that all years could be as diverse and as much of a pleasure to look back on as 2015!  So, in gratitude for the old, I look forward to the new, and whatever comes, may I face it without reluctance.

Dear reader, as further reference on how I would like to live, this year and next, I quote for you this verse from Henry Van Dyke, titled "Life":

Let me but live my life from year to year,

With forward face and unreluctant soul;

Not hurrying to, nor turning from the goal;

Not mourning for the things that disappear

In the dim past, nor holding back in fear

From what the future veils; but with a whole

And happy heart, that pays its toll

To Youth and Age, and travels on with cheer. 

So let the way wind up the hill or down,    

O'er rough or smooth, the journey will be joy: 

Still seeking what I sought when but a boy, 

New friendship, high adventure, and a crown, 

My heart will keep the courage of the quest, 

And hope the road's last turn will be the best.