All Things Considered…

Thought I’ve received a few, I regret that I haven’t sent Christmas cards this year.  I don’t bake or go caroling, but for a number of years now I’ve reserved the Christmas cards for some special people in my life – mostly from my past. 

Each year, the first in the box has been to my High School Chorus teacher, Doris Williamson.  She was that teacher who’d believed in me more than I had in myself.  She thought more of me then than I did of myself.  She called me last January to check in – probably to say goodbye.  In March, Mrs. Williamson lost her battle with Cancer.  I’d like to send off a card to her husband, Richard, in keeping with the tradition by letting him know I’m thinking of her this holiday and I have so often through the year.  I’d like for him to know how much she influenced me,  and that I know how much she cared for me. 

I pause a lot to think of those we’ve lost over the past year and in recent years.  The people who do what they do because it’s in their nature, the Doris Williamsons, the Sensei Kris Rosenthals.  These people probably didn’t know what influence they’d had over someone’s life.  They just were who they were.  Thank God for ‘em.

More and more, I turn to thinking of soldiers this season, too, and of their families who miss them.  I wonder whether there can be any punishment worse than being away from your family.  Does it get any worse than losing someone you love – to war? 

I am grateful this year, as always, for my family and friends.  Though the wallet’s empty, I know my family will celebrate together – that’s as lucky as anyone could hope to be.

Merry Christmas, everyone.