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| Burkharts in Atlanta where 2016 began. Photo by me, January 2016. |
H
ow do you sum up a year? Was it marked by the beeping of the coffee maker telling me to fill up my cup day after day or by the shutter click of my camera? Maybe it was the miles of footsteps hiking in the woods or the lines of words I wrote? I really don't know the answers, but I know that 2016 is over.
I know that silence was more prevalent as I spoke less, withdrew and tightened the circle in my life. It was a year of endings and I said goodbye to some people. Some of the goodbyes were angry and hurt but what has been said has been said. Sometimes you want to forget and sometimes you need to remember and I did both.
It was awful year of politics and America let us all down. I thought we were better than this but I was wrong and that is depressing. Many a sleepless night has come to me over this election.
I didn't break any bones or require any surgery and for that I am grateful. I might have earned a wrinkle or two and gained a few more grays, but overall I came through this year physically well. I still live in fear of what 2012 did to my body and those scars greet me every morning.
I'm reminded of Seasons Of Love from the Rent soundtrack to put a cap on this year.
My favorite book that I read was from Edmund White, Inside A Pearl: My Years In Paris, published in 2014.
I couldn't find any new music to give a damn about this year. I had to turn to the past and discover music that was new to me. Tom Waits took my heart with his tender ballad, If I Have To Go, from 2006.
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| Alabama. Photo by me, July 2016. |
My favorite moment was in July watching thunderstorms atop a mountain in Alabama. I watched the blackness grow, move toward me, the wind rush up and a growing curtain of rain surrounded me. In that moment I wanted to be left alone to live in that second with no distractions by anything. That moment was symbolic and foreshadowed the remaining months. It was the turning point from what had been a good year to one where nothing made sense on any level and patterns to predict behavior and trends in everything and everyone failed.
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| On the Atlanta Beltline over North Avenue. January 2016. |
I walked on beaches, city streets, mountains, valleys and floated on the water. I looked at the sky more both day and night to wonder and think. That was my road this year of my life with the highs, the lows and periods of flat ground.
2016 was a year I would like to forget and I hope that 2017 is better.
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