A few quiet days between the holidays allow for reflecting, planning and bird watching. The feeder provides enough entertainment to make those chores around the kitchen sink more pleasant. Occasionally a sudden mass flurry into the brush points to the presence of a hawk. The natural world outside our kitchen windows–a good place to look for harmony. Old hippies are still looking for ‘peace, love, and understanding,’ and for better days ahead for everyone. January is almost here. By the time this is in ink many will have had their black-eyed-peas and cornbread. Why black-eyed-peas? An old farmer said it is in hopes that we might eat this well through the year.
        January birthdays start with Champion Arne Coon and Teeter Creek’s Jan Liebert on New Year’s Day. Kabela Clark was born on 01-02-2012. The 3rd is for Jacob Coon and for Greta Thunberg who said, “No one is too small to make a difference.” Sami McCleary and Lee Ray celebrate on the 4th. Skyline first grader Amelia Johnson will party on January 5th and the 6th is for Felix the Farmer, born in 2018. Thank you all for giving us more reasons to celebrate in January.
         The KC Chiefs did not disappoint on Christmas Day. We can approach the New Year with hope and optimism, not just for the Super Bowl, but for the world in general. Boxing Day found the internet full of family photos celebrating another beautiful Christmas. Sweet smiles came with the satisfaction that the special gifts carefully chosen were well received. A few days of leftovers gave cooks a little break while they assessed the success of this year’s roast beast with all its accompaniments. Some are just giving their scales a sidelong glance, promising to step upon them again sometime late in January.
        Ending the old year, looking back through the archives here in The Champion News, we learn that old people have a wonderful advantage in life. We can close our eyes and wait a few moments, taking a few deep breaths, and open them again on a whole new perspective. The ability to see life happening through the eyes of others is a gift. It comes with experience and is called empathy. Champion grandchildren have experienced the fading of a dear grandparent, maybe some of their first experiences into sadness. Fathers are themselves re-blossoming as they watch sons bloom. Suffering siblings are endeavoring to persevere. Distant young family members are growing, thriving, striving and succeeding in their exciting eclectic lives. They keep connected and seem to revere the old folks, looking for family history, keeping memories alive. It is joyful to know they are pursuing the good lives the old folks hoped for them. A gentleman friend from the Yukon Territory, Canada says, “Sadness may knock at your heart’s door many times a day, like an uninvited guest seeking entry to your most tender space. But don’t let it make you mis joy’s gentle knock–those precious moments come less often, and you must embrace them when they arrive.” He lives 2,600 miles away but sounds like a real Champion–Looking on the Bright Side!

Facebook