Editorial Message: Treasured Holidays

Dear Readers,

Just as you, my family and I managed to get through another holiday season.  The holiday hustle and bustle as well as the pandemonium of visiting friends and family and entertaining visitors often causes us to overlook the joy that should accompany the season. Our family “holiday” was almost 2 weeks long, with some of the family coming the week before Christmas and the rest the week after. Fortunately, my wife and I did not have to travel this year; everyone came to us. With all the busyness, it would have been easy to forget to enjoy being with family and friends at this special time of year. That fact dawned on me near the end of this season. My younger son and his eldest were deer hunting on our land. His youngest son, 9 years old, did not want to hunt, so he and I hiked around the other end of the property trying not to look like deer! As we walked and talked, I realized that this was what the season was all about. We were just having a good time being together, while I was able to catch up with what he was doing at home. 

Later, I began to think about what we had done in the past 2 weeks.  As many of you know, my family and I all play tennis. We’re hardly together long before the tennis rackets come out. During the holiday, we had a great time playing with our grown children, who still play; our 21-year-old grandson, who plays tennis for the University of Tennessee; our 14-year-old nationally ranked granddaughter; and the other grandchildren, who play at various skill levels. No one was worried about who was winning or the next thing on the schedule. Everyone was having fun being together. We tend to overlook times like these, because we concentrate on the details of the event or rush to get from one thing to another.  

Unfortunately, the holidays are not happy times for all. My wife and I can think
of at least 8 families we know personally who are “celebrating” their first holiday without a mother, father, or spouse. The newspaper is filled with obituaries of those who have died in the past few months, leaving family members to deal with the sorrow of a holiday without a loved one. This time of year is very difficult for those families. They need a kind word or kind gesture from the rest of us to show we care about their sorrow. 

As I think about these things, my resolution for the New Year is to be more aware of the opportunities to enjoy friends and family, because our time on earth is limited. We should take advantage of every minute we have to share time and love with family and friends and to be of help to those in need. Helen Lowrie Marshall wrote a poem many years ago that has helped me realize how I should live my journey through this life.  

This business of living was meant to be more
Than plodding along each day
With head bowed down and eyes on the ground,
While Time ticks the hours away.

This business of living was never meant
As a treadmill sort of thing;
There are rivers to cross, and mountains to climb,
And glorious songs to sing!¹

I wish you a very Happy New Year filled with all the joys and opportunities the future can bring.