The light at the end of the tunnel

 Another year is coming to an end. The days are very short and cold and the nights are long and dark. It's no coincidence that the holidays and festivals associated with this time of year all have to do with light! Hanukkah, Diwali, Christmas, the Winter Solstice - no matter what you celebrate, they all have light at their heart. We Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, the light of the world, whose advent was announced by a shining star. Older, pagan celebrations of the winter solstice involve bonfires to drive back the darkness on the longest night of the year and celebrate the return of the sun. December 21st was the Winter Solstice, the shortest day. After that, even as we sink deeper into winter, the days are getting fractionally longer.

Maybe this is why we see a New Year as a new start. As the days get longer, we look forward to new growth, new life and a sunny future. My word of the year for 2023 is "Adventure"! I'm beginning it with a trip to Paris and looking forward to many possibilities in my business. Adventure involves risk. The safest thing to do is stay in your comfortable routine and do nothing to rock the boat. But taking risks builds confidence and confidence leads to growth.

Whatever the New Year brings, I plan to keep on blogging. I don't seem to have as much time as I did when everything was shut down but it is a good discipline to sit down a couple of times a month and think of something positive to write. I promise to keep complaints to a minimum and look for good in the world and in my industry. Photography has light at its heart (the name means "light writing") but preserving memories is its soul. I get to work in a creative field that I love AND help people record and keep their memories alive!  How cool is that?