In The Aftermath

 photo by Kristine King (2013) of  Toronto. (not for publication unless authorized by Kristine King)

1 January 2014

     I wasn't going to comment on anything throughout the holiday season except to mention the deep gratitude I feel toward the music community and those who support our music community. It's so easy to look back on a year and so easy to mumble platitudes about the next. Life is just a series of ups and downs, little sorrows and big ones. I wanted you to know that our conversation right before Christmas held great meaning to me as you and I travel the Emmaus Road toward personal happiness. In the end, all we can do is treasure the moment in the morning when we wake up and realize our hearts are still beating. The Christmas season and the days toward the New Year are times for us to quiet our frenetic lives and deeply contemplate our relationship with our Creator. Each year I try to simplify that process even more than the previous year. It  seriously helps that I have my Catholic faith. It's a process that works for this stumbler and I've tried to explain that. I just stumble along trying to find answers to all the great mysteries of life. I'm human and question all the world's evils that everyone else questions. I get angry like everyone else at all the injustices done to others (even within the framework of our own religion,) and I can also relish my life's joys of great, happy moments. I should concentrate more on those happy moments. They inevitably were brought to me through acts of caring, kindness, and unconditional love - all that is opposite of the negative forces of  hate and evil. My faith helps me to sort it all out. I didn't always like Christmas - even as a child. Mainly because I didn't understand any of its deeper implications. A child is born, brings a message of  Love into the world, and then is condemned to die for it and suffers a horrible death. Here's the really wild part - he's resurrected and lives for all time. I re-iterate: it works for me and maybe not others. That's their choice. For me? I hope I can use the lessons of the story as a way to live my life in 2014. Or just for today . . . there are no guarantees of a tomorrow. My prayers are always for you, Fellow-Traveler, as we face another day. The conversation has meant so much to me since we started it.