Farewell 2012

You've been a mixture of things, 2012.  However, mostly you were good to me.  I appreciate that. Some of those who went before you just kicked me down as many stairs as they could and kept walking.

Opportunities presented themselves that I never thought possible.  During your brief time here, I got to go to England, Ireland, and Brazil.  Three stamps in Ye Olde Passport are not shabby for any set of 365 days.  I got to fulfill a long-standing dream with Brazil, got to revisit places that I love in England and Ireland.  In both places, I met people unexpectedly who became wonderful.

As you were passing through, you also saw the change from a Topamaxed me to the unTopamaxed me.  That's something none of your family have seen for five years or so.  I am praying your successor doesn't get to see the reverse process.

Not all of you was good, though.  While you were here, my uncle left us.  While you were here, it seemed that violence reigns supreme.

Only minutes remain before the beginning of the new.  It's time to listen to the wind in the windchimes and the blasts of redneck fireworks sweeping away the bits of you that remain.  If it all goes in the scales that the Egyptians believed would weigh the heart at the end of life, though, if this is the final moment to shift through and evaluate, then on the whole, I'm going to have to say there's more light than dark in you.  I am hoping that you represent a turning point instead of the slight peak before the rollercoaster decline.  Only what comes after you will tell us.