Looking Back, Looking Ahead

The depiction at the right is of Janus, the ancient Roman god with two faces, one to look forward and one to look backward.  So appropriate that the month of January is named for him.  This post was to be my first post of 2023, but the football gods of America delivered unto us such a monumental weekend of games that, this look back/forward got bumped.

So, how was 2022 for The Grandstander?  On the whole it was a very good year.  On the downside, I found myself still dealing with the 2021 loss of Marilyn to cancer.  I found myself missing her in ways both profound and simple.  The memories of our life together serve to both make me smile with gratitude and happiness, but they also, sometimes, bring with them emotions of loss and sadness.  Over the last thirteen years, I have learned much about the nature of grief, and I know that it never goes away, and that it can strike you at the least expected moments and over the most seemingly trivial things, like paper napkins and how you operate a vacuum cleaner.  I know that these feelings are normal, and that the wonderful memories that we made will be with me forever, and that I will always miss her.

On the upside was the relationship that developed with our fellow Caring Place volunteer and friend Linda Mulzet (as first documented HERE) that grew into something special, and we were married on December 3.  I didn't know if I would ever find someone so special again, didn't know if I would ever get married again, and never expected it to happen as quickly as it did.  I am so glad that it did, however.   I have learned much over the past six years through therapy and other support systems, learned that there are no rules as to how life plays out, and that when the opportunity to begin anew and start new chapters arise, that you need to take them. If other people don't understand or have issues with what you do - and there have been plenty of such folks - then that is THEIR problem, and not mine, and that maybe, just maybe, such people were never your friends to begin with.

So, what was good about 2022:

• I got to travel to Hilton Head Island with Linda
• Spent am amazing 48 hours in New York City with Linda where we saw two Broadway shows, "The Music Man" and "Plaza Suite".  We also go engaged when we were there!!!
• Had an amazing eleven day tour of the breathtakingly beautiful Canadian Rockies via train and bus with a seventeen person tour group arranged by Greater Pittsburgh Travel
• Went to Washington DC with Linda to see a Penguins-Capitals game, saw an NBA game there the next night, and did some touristy stuff in DC.  All in the space of 48 hours
• Saw Billy Joel and Elton John in concert, both at PNC Park
• Saw "Hamilton" performed three times in Pittsburgh
• Experienced a wonderful event: the marriage of Linda's daughter, Sarah, and her fiancé Nick
• Attended my first Steelers game in person since 2003
• Became enamored of pooch named Zelda Fitzgerald
• Established a scholarship in Marilyn's name at Robert Morris University
• Staying in touch with my family and Marilyn's family
• Getting to know a whole new family, Linda's: her Mom, her daughter, her step-sons, her brother and sister, their spouses, and two generations worth of her nieces and nephews.
• Returned to working with groups at the Caring Place
• And I got married again.  Oh, I already mentioned that, didn't I?

What was not so good about 2022:

• Two trips to the emergency room
• One positive COVID test
• Health issues within the extended family.  Keep all prayers coming, folks.
• I only read 13 books this year, and all-time low for me in my retirement years.
• I only played 13 rounds of golf this year, another all time low in the retirement era
• I only made 85 posts in The Grandstander in 2022. In thirteen years of blogging, this was the lowest annual output for me.  I am hopeful that reduced quantity has led to improved quality.  I hope.

What are my goals (I won't call them resolutions) for 2023:

• Read more books.  At least two dozen in 2023.
• Play more golf.  Twenty-five rounds will be a nice number to shoot for.
• Spend less time on Facebook, which will allow me to read more books, I am sure.
• I weighed 220 pounds when I weighed myself yesterday morning, New Year's Day.  My lowest weight in years.  It would be great to get that down to 210 by December 31, 2023, but I'll happily settle for 215.
• See more movies.
• More books + More movies = More Grandstander posts
• Drink more water
• Go to at least eight Pirates games.  Yeah, yeah, I'm crazy, I know it.
• Try to be nice to all people at all times.

Oh, and to all Grandstander Readers....the obituaries, the Absent Friends posts, will continue to be a mainstay of the blog.

Here is to a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2023 for us all.

Peace.