2104

Another new year is starting and the more life seems to be a repetition.
Unless one is rich enough to try new things all the time, we all seem to go around in a weekly cycle. Work for 5 days, more work at home for the next two. With the odd week thrown in for something different - vacation. For 2014, we are all a year older and probably still dumb.

On the Cayman side, everything is till the same - same wife, kids, home, hobbies, job, friends, parents and relatives.

I have come to realize that as one gets older, one begins to appreciate the fragility of life. 3 friends have lost family members in the past two weeks. As my good friend Judith told me on Jan 2, the holidays were spent consoling those who had lost family, visiting those who were sick and running around trying to assist those more unfortunate.
There is a certain satisfaction one gets from these activities - a feeling that makes you feel really good about yourselves, not the feeling good that you got something effect that me mainly get.

I do not know what 2014 holds for me nor my family, but I believe that if we can appreciate the life we have been blessed with, the good friends that we have and the opportunities that are placed our benefit, we will all be better off.

Over the Christmas holidays, I did something that I had not done in many a year - build something out of metal. The project was a replacement bumper/trailer hitch for my Land Cruiser. It brought out in me the satisfaction of making something useful. It might have cost more than buying a unit, but I can say that "I did it'!
Of course, one project leads to another and a new expedition trailer is being hatched in my mind. Useful for hauling items to the beach for that party, carrying photography items around, or even for survival use in case another hurricane hits. They are expensive to buy and even more expensive to ship overseas. Plus, the DIY bug means that I can get what I want in the unit. Still working out the details but more to come.

All the best to you and your family is 2014!

Cheers
Mike