And the year I’m speaking of is the one that just was, 2018. I could be cynical or sarcastic and just say, “Oh well, no big deal; 2018 was just another year,” However, in its own ways, it was a banner year, in both  good and bad ways.

The year began in a bundle-up fashion. We’d been hit by the first of several arctic blasts that visited us in ’18, but this one was unique to me because for the first time ever I saw the French Broad River iced over, most likely a sight I’ll never see again.

Early in the year I attempted to travel back in time and reread all the Ian Fleming books he wrote with James Bond as the main protagonist. Unfortunately, my local library no longer had all the books I had read as a preteen/teenager. Even trying to get the books through inter-library loans was unsuccessful (apparently, James Bond is no longer as popular as he once was) so I was limited to reading just four of the fourteen Bond novels. And they weren’t in the actual chronological order which is necessary for the Bond story is truly a series, just like Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan books were, so they must be read in order as events and characters move from one novel to the next. And though I did drop hints to Lynndee about books for either our anniversary or my birthday, she made me wait until Christmas and bought me the entire collection of James Bond novels. So a Very Merry Christmas it was for this Bond fan! Thanks, Anghel o’ mine.

Next up was a celebration of love over the special week we celebrated not only our 7th wedding anniversary but also Valentine’s Day. Fortunately, we were not infected by the so-called 7-year itch, making Valentine’s day an even more loving occasion. And in finishing out a busy February, I celebrated my birthday in a quirky way by calculating the number of seconds I’d lived as opposed to the years, an interesting take on the nature of time and how we keep it.

But then came the bad. Just after returning home from our vacation, Lynndee’s mom passed away after a long, valiant battle, and we had to make plans to return to the Philippines after having been there the previous year. And that created a problem for I had let my passport expire just after returning home from that reunion trip. The only way I could get one quickly enough for us to return to the Philippines was to once again make a journey to Atlanta to visit their 24-hour passport agency. And so I hopped in the car and made the trip again, for a not-so- fun reason.

That takes me to the middle of the year and our summer vacation. The previous year we spent an entire month in the Philippines, reuniting with Lynndee’s family, so this year we kept it close to home. Lynndee had always wanted to go to Savannah, Georgia, after hearing my sister-in-law speak so much of it, so we made our plans. But of course, no trip to Georgia would be complete for me without seeing my Atlanta Braves play baseball, especially in the new stadium they had which I had yet to visit. So we made our plans and spent almost a week on the road, making new memories.

And then it was on the the Philippines to say our final farewell to Mom, which Lynndee shared here. While there, I also had a new experience which I shared here. As it was, we were there for a week and, believe it, or not, Lynndee’s Dad wanted me to go play golf with him, a way for him to deal with his mourning. And so it was that we spent a wonderful day on a beautiful golf course, hacking away at those little white balls.

As for the rest of the year, it truly was just another year of day-to-day routines, though I did in the last week of the year begin a new retirement job, which means I’m no longer officially retired. But, hey! Retirement ain’t all it’s cracked up to be; it’s actually boring. So I begin the new year as a working man. Wish me luck!