Well, here we are. New Year's Eve.
Behind us lies 2024 -- a year of tremendous highs and some very, very low lows. Ahead is 2025, a year of...well, I guess we'll find out soon, won't we?
The one thing I won't miss is Joe Biden and his corrupt, gaslighting, scandalous administration. Neither will Joe Biden, apparently:
Here's to all that lies ahead in 2025. pic.twitter.com/ORS71zSQCD
— President Biden (@POTUS) December 31, 2024
In less than three weeks, Biden will no longer occupy the White House. He will leave behind record inflation, a collapsed Afghanistan where women can be neither seen nor heard, billions of dollars wasted in Ukraine while Americans in North Carolina rely on the Amish to give them shelter months after Hurricane Helene laid waste to their communities, plea deals with the 9/11 masterminds, and commuted sentences for some of the worst dregs of humanity.
As I said in another piece, he -- and his administration -- cannot be relegated to a mere placeholder between Trump terms. He did far too much damage, was far too corrupt and self-serving, and far too rotten to let him be a footnote to history. This is a man who used cancer -- CANCER -- as a political football, for crying out loud.
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Will Donald Trump bring the transformation he's promised?
I don't know. I'm not psychic. All I can hope is that he gets some of his agenda done and, either way, he's far, far better than Kamala Harris regardless of how his term plays out.
For that, I'm grateful and optimistic. And that feeling transcends politics.
Last year started off in one of the worst ways imaginable, but the good moments ended up outweighing the bad in the end. We had a glorious time in Hawaii over the summer, where we swam with dolphins (and one wayward tiger shark), saw Pearl Harbor, and tasted the best fresh pineapple straight off the Dole plantation.
Like most people, I view January 1 as a fresh start of sorts. Not really a 'new year, new me' kind of thing, because New Year Resolutions don't often stick, but a chance to pause like the deep breath before the plunge and then dive in to what the new year will bring.
My boys go back to school and my eldest will graduate in June
(hold on, I'm gonna need a second to process that)
and he'll be off to college. We got to visit a few campuses this fall and I have nothing but good feelings for his future. Wherever he lands, he will thrive and I couldn't be prouder.
And it reminds me that life goes on, and often for the better. Even if there are a few bumps in the road.
Thank you, dear readers, for your support and readership this past year. It means the world to me.
So tonight, raise a glass of your preferred beverage (I will be having a French 75 and 12 grapes at midnight), and know that things will be better tomorrow.
Happy New Year!