The Last Sunset of 2015

     This annual moment of personal reflection almost didn't happen. Late this afternoon I was on the couch soothing a case of the Christmas crud with a heavy dose of Netflix, when I realized I had a New Year's Eve obligation to go take a picture. I grabbed the camera, leashed the dogs, and jumped in the truck. Soon after arriving at one of my favorite spots, with minutes to spare, I got my camera out for the shot. Pressing the shutter I got an annoying beep instead of the normal click. My battery was too low to use. No problem, I had another with just enough juice. On the second try, again no click, rather, another annoying beep lets me know the SD card was unformatted. Good thing I have a couple of spares in my camera case. Second card now in and again no click. This card was full. I glance at the photos and it looks like Colorado, which is already saved elsewhere in duplicate, so I knew I could delete the photos, but can't remember how. The truck's clock says 4:56. Third SD card was put in, and yes, yet another beep. This one was apparently set to read-only, but I knew I should have been able to flip the little tab on the side of the card to change that, but the tab was broken. At 4:58 I put in the only SD left, and it is so old the label is just a smudge, but it worked, and I got the shot. Getting new SD cards is the only resolution I am making in 2016.

     After all the trouble this photo was to get, it's a shame this was the best I could do to mark the passing of another year, but the sun has been absent for several days. At least my head is in a better spot than it was last year at this time when I was coming off of several stressful months, and a medication whose side effects were worse than what it was prescribed to treat. I also learned some valuable lessons that enabled me to navigate 2015 better than I did 2014, even though the obstacles in each year were remarkably similar. I've found it is often easier to veer left or right than to approach everything head on. And when veering is not an option and circumstances are beyond my control, I know my attitude toward them is completely within my control. It's only taken 5 decades for me to realize that, but better late than never.

     I bid all of you a wonderful new year, one where any obstructions you encounter may be minor.