Honie Briggs

Once again, summer has busted up the joint and scattered my thoughts all over the place. Now that I have a couple of weeks to regroup before the fall semester begins, I plan to take full advantage of the down time by filling it with as much fun as I can stand. Since I have a minute, I figure why wait until December to reflect on the year, why not take stock now? Just to be sure there isn’t one more thing I should try to cram into the year before it is over I make the most of the remaining four months.

Can you believe there are only 134 days until Christmas? My favorite color is green, btw.

Anyway, who knows what December will bring? I may not have the opportunity to rake myself over the coals do a proper year-in-review post. So, what have I done so far in 2013: The Year of Something Better™?  Well, this time last year, with heat oppressive and routine monotonous, the readership here at HonieBriggs.com averaged around seventeen humans. By comparison, 2013 is no different. Even though the number of followers continues to climb, it seems I’ve lost some readers. I am evidently no more interesting now than I was a year ago. I have made a few friends, met a couple of bloggers in person, and accomplished some of my writing goals. I make myself keep on keeping on the way I always do. The payoff for my brute force tactics? Exhaustion. Experiments with a few test balloons of my work in progress, Beyond Belief, have been encouraging.

Over the last year, many of my posts fell somewhere between snarky and sweet, with a little shameless self-promotion thrown into the mix. The FP gods took pity on me and featured one of my rants. I don’t know why. I suspect it was to give bloggers an example of what not to share. Lesson learned.

There is no mistaking this entire year has been one of learning. Volunteer training alone topped out at over 300 hours. I don’t write much about volunteering. I do it and that’s all I care to share about it here. There are thousands of dedicated volunteers who give their time and energy to staff crisis intervention agencies and community outreach centers. I am privileged to know many of them. Choosing to go back to school has been an eye opener. It’s a business just like anything else. Back to school at mid-life has all been done. So, I may write more about my experience. I may not. For now, suffice it to say, it’s no cake walk.

From the dog days of summer to a long winter’s night, time passes quickly. Each moment shared with friends old and new so far has been filled with laughter, games of chance, change, and most of all love, lots of love. I have enjoyed it all and plan to keep going.

One step at a time, of course.