March 28, 2024
Column

2007 will usher in changes

It has been a bit of a slow news week around 491 Main St. It is every year at this time as most of our newsmakers have, like the rest of us, turned our attention to the home front.

That is how it should be.

So I take this bit of time to reflect a bit on the past year and look forward to the next.

I figure for the next four weeks I will be furiously scratching out the date on all of my checks until I get used to writing 2007.

I will spend Sunday evening, like many of you, reflecting on the year that was and make determined promises for the good habits I will begin and the bad ones I will break.

I promise to work out at the gym more often. Faithful exercisers call us “resolutioners.” We are the excited new members, decked out in spandex, who make for longer than usual waits for time on treadmills and Stairmasters throughout the month of January.

By the end of the month, however, much of that fancy new spandex will be delegated to the bottom of the underwear drawer and the gyms again will be dominated by the disgustingly fit people who don’t waver from their workout routines.

I’m far from original when it comes to new year resolutions. Like many of you, I vow to take better care of myself, write more letters, remember everyone’s birthday, actually send the sympathy cards that I buy, be more patient with my children, watch less TV and read more good books.

This year has brought many changes to my household as it has with many of you. We welcomed a new member of the family in the way of a teenage girl. Our niece is 15, and that alone brings forth issues that challenge us daily.

At 15 she has been through more than most adults I know and has every reason to wallow in her own sorrow. Almost daily this dynamic and bright young lady throws her head back in boisterous laughter, and each time she does it reminds me of the strength and resilience of youth.

Each day her presence in my home scares the daylights out of me and at the same time fills me with an incredible sense of love and welcome responsibility.

I’m thankful that my husband will be with me this New Year’s Eve. A few weeks ago, as he left for work early one morning, the brakes failed on his car. Fortunately, he was on a level road just a few hundred yards from home. He made his way carefully back home and we had the car towed. We found out a few hours later that his front brakes were completely gone, “metal to metal” as they say, and his rear brakes were completely rusted away.

He had had his little Toyota Corolla successfully inspected just two weeks earlier.

Thoughts went to the couple who summered in Greenville. Linda Brown, 56, who was driving a truck that recently had been inspected, died after the brakes failed and her truck plunged into Moosehead Lake.

I wonder what would have happened if my husband’s brakes had failed just two minutes later as he made his way down Hammond Street Hill in Bangor toward the Main Street intersection. The route he takes every day.

When I think of Brown’s husband I think there but for the grace of God go I.

The Bangor Police Department’s new Main Street headquarters has been in the news this week, and Police Chief Don Winslow’s picture has graced our pages. He will retire very soon. He is a dear friend and has been a responsible, fair and compassionate chief. He has his own health struggles that I have written about and I will think of him on New Year’s Eve as he begins a well-earned retirement. He has been a good public servant, a loving husband and an incredible dad to two great daughters. I hope 2007 brings him and his family unabashed joy.

A few weeks ago I picked up my 18-year-old cat and tenderly placed her small body in a cat carrier and headed for our vet’s office. She had been my baby since before I was married. Her greatest enjoyment was eating and “spooning” with whoever happened to lie on the couch. She and I watched a lot of late-night TV together when insomnia struck.

You know you’re a grown-up when you have children and sacrifice nights of sleep to comfort a child. Nothing really prepares you for parenthood. You learn and love as you go. I found out this year that nothing really prepares you either for that terrible grown-up decision you have to make when a pet that relies on you lets you know that it’s time to let them go.

My husband and I cried like babies as we wrapped our arms around this little cat as the vet humanely gave her the shot that let her die with dignity.

I’m 44, but I’m still growing up. That proved it to me.

This year, we hope to bring a few new things to our house. We’ve always wanted a dog, but didn’t get one because of our aged cats. We are now on the lookout for a new kitten and a new dog. We hope that they are both rescued animals that need a second chance. They will certainly change our household, but change, while very scary, can actually be a good thing.

We’ve undergone a lot of changes in my family during the past few years, and this is what I’ve learned: This path we are all on is not straight, and if you can’t find a way to zig and zag just a bit, then that path may be very long.

If you can, then the rewards can be great.


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