1 January 2002 · A thank-you, by name, to everyone who mattered.
Today, at least in my hemisphere of this planet, it is 1 January, 2002. The first day of a new year! I want to wish everyone success, love, and happiness. New Year’s Resolutions are a way for people to acknowledge the past while looking forward to the promise of tomorrow. 2001 was a difficult year for many of us, and many of our family and friends lost their lives. My grandfather’s mother passed away yesterday, as did my mom’s cousin Eleanor. May their memory reside long within our hearts and our minds.
My thanks and wishes go out to you all of you. My thanks and love goes out to my family and friends. My family: Dad & Kathleen, Mom & Dave, Lauren, Kristen, Michael, all of my uncles, aunts, and cousins, GiGi, Great Grandma Cesira, Nanny, Granddad, and Diana (She’s an adopted sister!), I love you all! My friends: Sarah Erpelding and family (Carolyn, Emy, Tom, Jim), Jay Schweig (The Pillars, man!), Dustin Mick, Oscar, Gary (Wherever you are), Damelza Nuku, David Steinfeld (Thanks again!), Lindsay Meyer, David Hodgson (aka Davey Bell the Teen Idol), Michael Hayes, Pat Callison, Stephanie Leeper, Patricia Neal, and Matt Staley. There are so many of you out there. I’m not including every name that comes to mind! “May you all live as long as you want to, and want to as long as you live.”
I hope for 2002 to be a year of production! I’m going to earnestly work with this website, my writing, and several other projects as well. Another goal of mine is to return to my collegiate studies. In conclusion, I’d like to remind everyone (and myself!) that dreams are not enough! As Calvin Coolidge said, “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more commonplace than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and Determination alone are omnipotent.” While I was not as direct as President Coolidge, my poem Aquae Aeternarum strives to teach the same lesson.
Live and let live! Be happy and share your pleasure! Love and win the respect of others. Succeed and encourage others toward their own victories. Peace be with you all!
Composed 2002 · part of the Essays collection · authorship documented on the Provenance page.