November 10: Terrible Ghastly Noise, Front Porch Christmas Decorations, 2019

"I don't know," said the voice on the PA, "apathetic bloody planet, I've no sympathy at all."  It cut off.

There was a terrible ghastly silence.

There was a terrible ghastly noise.

There was a terrible ghastly silence.

The Vogon Constructor Fleet coasted away into the inky void.

That is the end of Earth at the beginning of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  Terrible ghastly silence.  Then a terrible ghastly noise.  Terrible ghastly silence again.  It's a pretty dark passage for a book that's described on its back-cover as "Extremely funny . . . inspired lunacy [and] . . . over much too soon."

This afternoon, with the help of my wife and daughter, I decorated the front porch of our house for Christmas.  I sort of pride myself on being one of the first houses in the neighborhood to have its outside Christmas decorations up.  It's a little competition that virtually nobody else on the street knows about except me.  Thus, I win every year.  It's sort of like being the only person ever nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.

I am looking forward to the holidays, mostly for one simple fact:  the ending of  2019.  This year has been a struggle on many levels.  I know that there are no guarantees that, in 51 days, things will alter dramatically in my life.  I'll just be glad to have 2019 in my rear view mirror.  Gone in a terribly ghastly silence.

I am doing all that I can right now to end the year well.  Planning some Christmas surprises for my kids, working on my annual Christmas essay, stabbing my Trump voodoo doll with impeachment pins.  Yet, I also know that there's a good possibility that 2020 could be worse than 2019.  There are no guarantees for a happy future.  In fact, at the end of next year, I may look back and think, "2019 wasn't such a bad year, after all."

Here are some things about 2019 that I can recall with fondness and nostalgia:

• A family trip to Walt Disney World at the beginning of January.
• Being elected Poet Laureate of the Upper Peninsula for the second time in a row.
• My daughter graduating from high school with honors.
• My daughter starting college and majoring in premed.
• My son joining chorus and band for sixth grade.
• Winning the 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature.  (Okay, that didn't happen, but I can pretend.)
• Having wonderful and supportive family and friends.
• Surviving a haunted escape room at Halloween without soiling myself.
• Good health, although I'm in a constant state of exhaustion.

So, you see, 2019 hasn't been a total loss.  There have been some wonderful moments.  And those are things I should concentrate on.  Hold close.  Yes, 2019 may end with a terrible ghastly noise, followed by a terrible ghastly silence. 

But Saint Marty also has light in his life.  Beautiful, glowing, Christmasy light.