By SUSAN DROMEY HEETER, Joyful Musings

As we count down to the end of 2023, I muse joyfully on the last eleven months – looking back on a year that had highs, downs, lows, ups.

How was yours, dear muser? Eventful? Dull? Healthy? Did you clean out that closet? Lose that weight? Make it to work?

Bravo, muser, no matter what the outcome, if you’re breathing, if you’re reading this – you’ve done something right.  Kudos to you.

Here at my reflective desk of Joyful Musings, I delight in the year behind, I organized slides from my parents – those old cellophane cardboard things and saw my Mom and Dad at their wedding. I transferred old tapes to digital platforms so the memories of the past will not require finding a VCR.  Walgreens makes this pretty simple and while it may not include garnering a Nobel Prize, it did give me a great feeling of satisfaction.

I got my annual sun check from the dermatologist, had my teeth cleaned, had a growth removed from my tongue that was vile but did serve to gross out my daughter every time I showed it to her.  THAT is satisfaction. 

My family is healthy and still eager to come home for the holidays; there is something to be said for that. I still love my pickleball obsessed husband and daughters as they navigate life, heartbreaks, jobs, studies, careers.  I’ve got sisters and brothers and nieces and nephews alive and healthy – though, after our last group photo, my siblings and I laughed at our impending demise with lines like, “And she was just there…so healthy!”   We are on the front lines these days, with ages way too close to home featured in obits – Henry Kissinger notwithstanding.

2023 will be gone soon – and a legacy of love continues on – even if it is only the memory of coffee with a friend, matched socks, papers organized, a baby’s giggle, a good book read. Each moment is Nobel Prize worthy, enjoy all of yours.