2024 Year in Review - from where I sit

As I got older I started to feel as though after my birthday in mid-July the rest of the year goes into double time speed.  This year it seemed to be on turbo speed.  

As I sit here on the last Monday of 2024 I thought I would share my thoughts on this year.

At this time last year our youngest son was starting his last half of senior year at HS, our oldest still in his dorm.  We were in getting and waiting on notifications from colleges mode, one school in the bag so there was that, and getting payments in for all the stuff senior year brings.. yearbooks, caps/gowns..tux rental for prom was still a few months away. 

By the middle of the year we were planning a new venture at URI for the son, finding an apartment for the eldest.  Finding an apartment in NYC is a survivor level sport.  I had forgotten, it was bad when I was looking for apartments, what the hell are the first, last month rents with security deposits that are the size of small nations GDP?  They were there when I got apartments, they were high then, they are insane now.  Areas that one avoided when I was younger were now “the place”.  You give random real estate people your information, your W2s, your social security .. I mean talk about anxiety inducing.  Only to be told that someone else got there faster.  Observation - prepare, patience, bunch of random money available….that was 2024 in the rental world of Brooklyn.  

By the end of the summer we were empty nesters.. I so do not like that term. It is a time of reflection, who the hell are we without children, what do we want to do, can do without having to worry about pick up, drop off, feeding our children every night… who am I now in my fifties, what do I want to do. Observation - in 2024 we started going to the theater more, in the middle of the week, we travelled alone (much to the chagrin of our sons) on short trips, my cooking got adventurous.  The house was too quiet, the space like a hole, I missed them.. this is how it is supposed to be, you teach them to fly not to stay in the nest.  You make it that the nest is always there for them, you make them want to visit .. not when they are gone, in all those years you built with them before. 

The world…well it’s a hot mess… wars, bombings, hate, dire campaigns warning us of doom and gloom and only one person who can fix it (that never works for me.. no one person makes the mess, no one person can fix it.. it takes a collaboration).  The world is tilting towards perceived toughness, I say perceived because if you have to beat up on those without power it’s just bullying, because the world is nervous.  Technology keeps going at speeds we have not seen before, AI is now a common household word, dictators were toppled, dictators were installed and we have seen this dance before.  I realized that Rumi has been right all along “yesterday I thought I was clever and wanted to change the world. Today I am wise and I am changing myself”.  I cannot fix the world, as I started this paragraph, no one person can. I am also not accountable for the world, the happiness of others, their perception of me.  I am accountable for my actions, my kindnesses, my friendships and how I am in the world.  Observation 2024 - I can only change my own reaction and actions..and they can be only for me to set. 

There is good in people .. in the vast majority of people and I see it.  In small acts, in ways they save others in big and small ways, in the fact that their goals are the same.. safety for our families, opportunities for ourselves and our loved ones. In 2024 we saw this if we looked, sometimes the loud anger diverts our attention, but we saw it in the way people still help others when tragedy strikes, with how they help a neighbor, a stranger, a family member and a friend. 

In 2024 there was a lot of music released, women ruled the touring world, we tapped our toes to the same beats or complained about them .. they got our attention.  There was so much streaming content.. who can keep up with it.. but it is a much needed distraction, so whether you need superheroes, anti-heroes, thrillers, dramas, comedies, some blend of all of those, this plethora of work thrills me as the mom of an actor son, you can find it.  There were sports losses, victories, stoopid large salaries. 

2024 - you can define it by it’s negatives, because images of children and towns bombed, toddler hostages, women everywhere being defined by others instead of themselves, discussions on transgender/gay/whatevs, immigration, crime, oligarchs, billionaires who cannot seem to appreciate that they have so much and instead feed the “more hole” in their soul, uber rich who give and do good with their funds, climate change - spoiler alert it’s real, science, science under attack by those who attack it for their own gain, history- history has seen this all in some form before and taken action.  All of that comes back though to are you making moments with your own inner circle, are you being the best you for yourself and others, are you changing yourself for the better?  

2024 - thanks for moments with my family, for laughs with my friends, for reminding me that 2025 will come in slow, cold, endless through March .. then pick up speed and all I can do is get off at different stations to enjoy the view and the experience.  To not litter where I stop and to leave each place no worse for my footprints.  

Happy New Year to all .. and may 2025 be full of whatever will help each us succeed in small and big ways.