Dear Reader:

It has been a long time since so many people around the world have looked so forward to telling a year good-bye and turning towards the next one with such renewed hope and prayers for a better tomorrow.

Upon reflection…2020 is still hard to define or even absorb mentally or emotionally…because it just wasn’t a pandemic or Covid19 virus that threw the world completely off-balance…but a series of political and economical upheavals that pushed our country into some kind of a strange disjointed alien land that was hard to recognize as our own. Disturbing at its very core.

So when I thought about a title picture for the first day of the New Year, 2021, immediately a compass rose popped up. It is a symbol and metaphor for… not just a physical instrument to guide us… but a moral one to lead us.

We all have wise and loving hearts, even if they need some dusting off after this past year’s travels, and our heart is our compass. We need it to determine the latitude and longitude of our wonder and curiosity that keeps the adventure of life in our beings. It makes life worth living to see what is around the next bend in the road.

Blessings are our courage…and we still have so many in spite of everything 2020 did to deceive us into thinking we had none.

We need to pray our journey is a long one this year and savor the stops along the way. Especially the difficult stops…where doubt and faith collide…we must continue to walk taller with God…relying on His faith to guide us…while walking faster than doubt can keep up.

And now it is time to reach down…way down…to our individual moral compasses…pull them out…reach back to help another fellow man along their journey with one hand…while reaching forward with the other towards God’s everlasting grasp.

It is only then… when we know… we are never lost in His care…His staff is big enough to bring us all back into His loving embrace.

So until tomorrow…My wish for us all is a fresh new start with a fresh outlook and a love for our fellow man. Let basic decency embrace us filled with compassion, trust, and hope at the helm of this great country. Happy Happy New Year…my blog readers, my friends, my loves!!!

P.S. And don’t forget, of all times, to say “RABBIT RABBIT!” After all this first day of the month also starts the first day of a new year…one we have been praying about for a long time. So say it loud and clear…perhaps several times.

I loved the Christmas stamps this year…my two favorites being Sammy the Red Cardinal and the Winter Rabbit for the first day of January! Here’s a toast for blessings from Heaven for 2021!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

The Dingles “own” December birthdays I think…hardly a day in the month goes by without one…and little Eloise finishes up this busy birthday month all by herself.

So yesterday we had one last December birthday party for our adorable three-year-old Eloise…Happy Birthday my youngest granddaughter! May this be your best year yet! The wonder of the world awaits you!

Big Game tonight…Big Big Game! Go Tigers…stay strong, stay safe, stay true to yourselves and play your hearts out! Love my Tigers!