First of all, let me say how honored I was to be asked to write an occasional news piece for Bill’s web site newsletter. When I learned back in the middle of 2011 that there was a chance that Bill and his family would be relocating back to Sparta after a 16-year absence I was more than delighted. Then when it became a partial reality (partial during the first half of the year because it was part time) and then a fulltime reality in mid 2012 the fact that he was back here really started to sink in.
Since Bill began his practice we have been working on creating his web site. He has asked me to assist him and even refers to me as his “Web Master”. When he came up with the idea to have a “NEWS” tab within the web site his plan was to create news items that would be of general legal interest to family, friends, clients and potential clients. And he asked me to contribute this section called Pop’s Perspective that will be of a non-legal nature for each news release.
So, the following is my initial attempt to impart some perspective from my point of view:
Now that we have put the old year behind us and are embarking on a new year, I thought I would reflect briefly on what I will remember about 2012 ten years from now. So I began to reflect on events such as the Presidential Election campaign, the election results, Obama Care, the fiscal cliff, the awful events at Penn State, Newtown, the global and United States economy, heat – rain – snow – Sandy floods and perhaps my golf handicap.
But when I reflected on these and many other events, I came to the realization that what I would really remember about last year in ten years or so would not be any of those happenings – but rather my family events. The Askins, all eleven of us, are a very close family. So things like my eldest grandchild going off to college, a visit to her college by Nan & Pop in the early fall, the move back “home” to Sparta of Bill and Patty and the two younger grandkids, stopping by to see those girls go into their first day at their new school in Sparta, talking with Tom about his work at the Bank and being invited to take a “road trip” with him to Vermont where he was playing a concert, seeing how happy our oldest grandson has been as he began his kindergarten days, watching our youngest guy grow, develop and start pre-school, helping Patty get settled into her new life in Sparta, watching Erin’s enthusiasm and joy for running the Search program for her high school students and celebrating the first 50 years of marriage to my wife Nancy – these are some of the treasured moments I will remember in 2022.
So what is the “perspective” that Pop is trying to get across? Well, I think if we really concentrate on what is important to us, some of the “big news items” should maybe take a back seat to our perspectives of what is really important in our lives. So let me suggest that we all stop from time to time, look around us, be thankful for what we have, slow down once in a while and “smell your roses”.
Look for another perspective next month!