So, the end of 2011 is upon us.  It was not a good one for the McCrarey clan.  My mother and father both passed away, and earlier this month, so did their loyal dog entrusted to my care.  I also dealt with the transition to retired life and the surprisingly difficult task of adjusting to living in the USA after six mostly wonderful years in The Land of the Morning Calm.  On the plus side, a beautiful granddaughter (Sydney Renee) joined the family.  And so of course, the circle of life continues.

Today I completed the surprisingly extensive paperwork associated with an application for a fiancee visa so that my sweetheart Jee Yeun can stay with me wherever I’m living.  I checked the hours for my local post office and confirmed they stayed open until 2:00 p.m.  It’s funny, I’ve procrastinated for weeks on getting the visa application together but once done, I wanted it out in today’s mail, by god!  So, I arrived at the post before 1 o’clock only to discover they closed at noon for the holiday.  And there was no wind, rain, heat or snow to delay those postal people from their appointed rounds.

Not to be deterred, I drove on in to the Main Post Office in downtown Columbia.  Much to my chagrin, I discovered that that office does not open at all on Saturday, and especially not on New Year’s Eve Saturday.  So, I dropped my envelope in the collection box out front which promised a 3:00 p.m. collection.  Whether or not that’s true, my mission was accomplished.

And then a question came to mind.  If by some magic you could be shown your future life, would you want to view it?

Now I know that is not a unique or profound thought.  But what prompted the question was looking up at that fourth floor office I occupied from 1986 through 1993 when I was working for the Postal Service.  Back in those days I’d sometimes gaze out my window and watch the happenings on Assembly Street, the major thoroughfare in my adopted Southern city.    I saw Pope Paul, President Bush the First, and Governor Campbell motorcade by, but mostly it was just the hustle and bustle of the ordinary citizenry going about the business of what I presumed were their ordinary lives.

And today I wondered what would the me of back then have thought upon seeing the me of today mailing a letter of such importance and yet its contents were beyond my wildest imaginings just a few short years ago.   I hope I would have laughed at the absurdity of it all.

Despite all the hopes and dreams and best laid plans, we are after all destined to live in the moment.  I never envisioned this life that I’ve lived turning out as it did.  The detours and heartbreaks and disappointments all inevitably led me back to this place, but changed me almost completely from who that man looking down from the window way back then.  And I don’t just mean those extra pounds around my belly.  All those experiences that I never planned for, dreamed about, or even knew that I desired have not necessarily made me better, and I certainly hope not worse.  But this is who I have become, and I am glad for it.

I’m not going to answer my own question directly because I don’t know if someone had shown me the road ahead back then that I would have had the courage to follow it.

So, I am looking forward to the new year.  And I know that there are things I’d like to see and do.  But I’m thinking I’ll just take it a day at time and see what happens.  Doing it that way has worked pretty well for me so far I suppose.

Speaking of plans (and proving my point), I was going to take Jee Yeun out to Myrtle Beach for a little R&R to start the New Year.  And tonight I get a phone call from my old (aren’t we all?) high school friends Rod and Pat Headlee.  For the past few years they’ve been living on a sailboat and traveling the world, mostly in the South Pacific.  They bought a new boat in Annapolis, and after outfitting it so they can sail to warmer climes, they are heading south.  Their journey has begun with the Intercoastal Waterway and they are currently docked in New Bern, North Carolina.  Which as fate would have it is where we are going to be tomorrow instead of Myrtle Beach.

You just never know what’s in store, do you?  I guess that’s the way I like it.

Happy New Year everyone!