38: Brigonian 2022 #27

So begins my 8th decade. What a ride it has been, and that ride isn’t slowing … I have learned that less is more, so I’ll keep it brief by giving you a 2-minute pictorial tour of our year.

Having married in December, Theresa and I rented an AirBnB in Newport Beach, California in January for 6 weeks. It was a delightful home just 96 steps from the longest, widest beach I’ve ever seen. Definitely a good way to start the year,

Coming back to the Vineyard in February and facing a long and cold few months wasn’t appealing. So we escaped to Tulum in Mexico. It began as a honeymoon on the beach in a gorgeous resort. I manged to check the Great Pyramid of Chichen Itza off my bucket list (Very impressive). Then, Theresa and I both got COVID, and we were quarantined to our room for a week. Returning home to March’s last gasps of winter was a great relief.

For my birthday, Theresa and I celebrated in grand style in a terrific hotel, The Cliff House, Cape Neddick, Maine, high on a cliff overlooking the ocean. My birthday was memorably marked by a magnificent lunch in a gorgeous seaside setting followed by a gigantic New England storm and then a rainbow, all in a total of one hour. It was an unforgettable day.

For the 3rd consecutive decade, all my kids and grand kids joined us on the Vineyard for a grand birthday celebration. I feel blessed to have a healthy, happy family of kids and grand kids. As I write this all is well with Cy, Hal, Jackie, Dan and Katy. And, my grand kids Ashley, Jake and Kevin continue to bring light to this Oupa.

For seven years I have been planning to take Jackie’s family to Africa. Finally, it happened in August when we all flew to Kenya for 10 days. The thrill of showing my grandchildren the magic of the bushveld was fully realized. Their delight was multiplied by mine, as I have never tired of it after countless safaris. And the camp was one of the finest I have experienced.

As we celebrate married life after one year, Theresa and I have brought great comfort and new energy into our own, and each other’s lives. Theresa injects new energies in a myriad of ways, not least of which is the bird (and squirrel) feeder outside my office window. At any given moment I can sit back and watch an entire production inches away and captured on my iPhone.

As we see off 2022, many of us with mixed emotions about our world, it seems clear that our generation needs to hand over the reins to the post-baby boomers. The age of the millennial is at hand.

As I photographed the new moon rising last February in California, I was reminded that just as the moon’s phases cycle every 28 days, beginning with a new moon, everything in our existence is cyclical. Energy is by its very nature, cyclical. What goes down will rise again. Change is at the heart of our existence.

With blessings to all of you friends and family of mine. May 2023 be a standout. We deserve it!

And please leave any comments below.

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