I am one of those people who love a clean calendar page, an empty notebook, and a fresh start. Come on 2018!

I hear a lot of folks saying good riddance to 2017. I know for some, it’s been rough. But, all in all, Ken and I had a pretty great year.

Generally speaking, most of the hardships taking place are outside our humble home. Inside we are fortunate.

The last few days, our house has been full with super good friends, and we had some very interesting conversations.

One thing that kept coming up, was the hand basket we find ourselves in, as we wonder where we are headed. The state of the world is in trouble. It would seem, we are all doomed.

When we look at the reality of climate change, the sickness of political leaders, the horrors of religion, and world wars that loom, a positive outlook is hard to come by. Big picture stuff is daunting.

On the other hand, when we point the finger inward, and talk on a personal note, we are all happy, healthy, and safe. We all have good plans and high hopes for the next year. It was easy to express our love and gratitude. and more than once we held hands and exclaimed, “YAY!”

Remember that a bumper sticker that asked us to “Think Global and Act local.”  It makes more sense to me now. It is what we do.

We do our best to keep our loved ones comfortable, and safe. We try our best to be nice to our neighbours, and we show up for our community… local action.

The global stuff — well, really all we can do is think about it.