A Few Thoughts on the Turning of the Year

2025 is ending. 2026 will soon begin. When I was a child, there were a lot of books out about the Apocalypse coming with the Millennium. There were books with the prophecies of Nostradamus, with special concentration on the verses about a great war to come, when New York would be bombed, etc. We had nuclear bombing drills at school. They would probably not have been effective, but we had them. I grew up figuring I would not make it past 1999 or 2000. I never pictured myself in old age. I never thought about the year 2025, let alone 2026. Even 1999 was forever away in 1970 or 1975. But 2025? That was doubly forever away. And now, it has passed beneath the bridge of my present.

My father used to compare himself to various relatives in terms of lifespan. I suppose he had reason to do so. His mother dropped dead of a massive heart attack when she was fifty-three, I believe. His father had had heart attacks starting at around age thirty-seven. Grandpa died at sixty with his fifth or sixth heart attack. "I've passed Mom," my dad said when he was fifty-four. "I've passed Dad," was at sixty. His next target was his grandmother, Stewart. She had died at eighty. He passed that milestone. After that would have been Grandma Kistler, but he did not make it to eighty-five. He was two months short. His target after that would have been his grandfather Stewart, who had lived to be very close to eighty-eight. Most of his grandparents gave him long targets. There was only his patrilineal grandfather who died at no more than twenty-five. Lead poisoning. The sudden kind. It was in East St. Louis. That still happens a lot there. Some towns don't change much even over a century.

My parents are doing a much better job of having long lives than my grandparents did. Dad made eighty-four. Mom is still alive at eighty-six. I have passed three of my grandparents. The last one died at age eighty, or just before. When I grew up thinking everything would end before I was forty, I didn't need to worry about what would happen in old age. My father had physical problems, but he was mentally sharp to the end. Not so true for my mother. Thank God for my one brother who is taking care of everything for her. I never had children. If I ever go that way, no one will be looking after me. My wife is older than I, but she had a grandmother who lived to be a hundred. She may outlast me.

And how was 2025 for me? I spent the first couple of months dealing with a very sick cat. She was too sick. Stopped eating. The vet prescribed a medication that was supposed to get her eating. She didn't. She was a mean and bossy cat and a jealous little goddess who demanded attention. She was sick in various ways for about two years. She made it difficult to get any medicine into her. I don't miss the expenses and worries of those last few years. Nor do I miss cleaning up the messes she made. Some of them were extremely impressive. But I do miss her.

Other than that, the year was personally quiet. Biden out and Trump back in with all that entails. Our other cat, Morgana, has bloomed a bit since Miss O'Malley died. I have more energy to give her attention. She gets more play time. She is much healthier than Miss O'Malley was, and probably healthier than she was before with more play time. She has also been much more cuddly. It's probably because I don't have Miss O'Malley guarding my person from the attention of others. Morgana is very demanding about getting her cuddles, too, now that she can. She insists I sleep on my left side so that she can get in between my body and arm. I don't seem to get much sleep when she decides she has to be there, but having that little purr machine is very pleasant.

My middle brother does not like science fiction or fantasy, but he does like my poetry. He suggested I put out a book of poetry. That spurred me to start the Doggerel of the Day feature here. I skipped having a sign-up sheet for December, but will probably put one out for January on the morrow. It did get me to write a bit more poetry in October and November. We also had poems from various others here on Ricochet. We shall see what 2026 brings on the poetic front.

How about all of you? How was your year? Have any big plans for next year?