With the advent of a new year, it’s a good time both to reflect and look forward.

In thinking back over 2013, I had the phrase “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” in mind this morning.  Beyond the snippet, I wasn’t aware of much else, so I looked up the actual quote, which led me back to the first paragraph from Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities”:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

It’s an odd, but fitting way to summarize 2013 for me.  We tend to evaluate a lot of thoughts and experiences in life as extremes. I’m not sure that’s a good thing (particularly on the downside). In practice, we can only take one day at a time, and too much energy is wasted on events of the past or worries about the future. In many ways, it was a very difficult year.  In others, it came with good things and our family managed to persevere through a lot of adversity.  We’re stronger and more prepared for the journey ahead.  All in all, I’m very glad it’s over and we can turn a new page into 2014.

The year ahead will bring even more change.  In all probability, both Kathy and I will be doing something different professionally, we will have our first high school student, and our youngest will depart grade school for the one-way hallways and additional rules and requirements of middle school.  Something about it is both encouraging and overwhelming at the same time.

What hasn’t wavered is the hope and faith I continue to have in the path before us.  It will be a high paced 2014, one way or the other, and I’m excited for the change.

We will celebrate tonight as we have for many years, with a very special dinner.  Regardless of the circumstances, we have much to be thankful for, and every reason to be optimistic about the New Year to come.

A Happy New Year to all… and the best for 2014.

-CJG 12/31/2013

I suppose it’s best to start with an introduction, right?  About an hour ago, I had about 1,000 ideas going through my head and a lot of motivation to get started… at this point, not so much.

I don’t really have much of a goal in mind in starting this out, beyond having a means to express some thoughts as and when the ideas come.  Writing has always been a source of catharsis, and hopefully this will serve as a healthy outlet.  Whether useful, insightful, or particularly helpful, I have no idea on or control over that, and will leave it to be what it is.  If something written here is helpful, fantastic, it’s nice to make a positive difference where possible.

My thoughts, observations, and experiences are just that.  I struggled mightily with what to call the blog in the first place, and landed on “Structured Chaos”, which is pretty representative of how I like things.

We’ll see how this goes. It could very well be that this will be short-lived, but time will tell.

-CJG 12/31/2013