Dear Ronni,
And I am always grateful for you! Happy New Year!

I always remember sitting in Greenwich Village breaking bread, eating mussels and drinking wine with you when I met you for the first time. You encouraged me in my early blogging days, and have been a role model for me for the past 15 years.

Sending love and light to you,
Tamar

Happy New Year to you, Ronni. Let's keep on kicking. Best to all who pass through here ... we're a tough old bunch.

Happy New Year, Ronni.

Delightful, Ronni and Commentators all (well to:dkzody, hope that your pension issue gets straightened out quickly and without undue suffering.)

As a fat squirrel sits in my wild bird feeder, gobbling down the contents, I have faith he won't be there too much longer.....or was I making a wish about the current resident of the White House?

Blessings and gratitude to all in 2020.

Always begin a new year with hope and optimism. Things will always get better. We are closer to the time when we can look forward to a new president. Take heart! Happy New Year....ellie

Cornel West said it best, for me anyway: “I cannot be an optimist but I am a prisoner of hope.” Let's all hope 2020 is a better year in many, many ways.

Cheers, Ronni!

I'm very grateful to have discovered your blog more than a year ago and appreciate your honesty in writing about your health issues (as well as other topics). Like you, I'm horrified and ashamed by our treatment of immigrants, especially separating families.

My main hope for the coming year is that out of all this turmoil and chaos comes more kindness and compassion toward others. I see it as the only hope for our country.

Happy New Year to all!

It feels oddly metaphorical, but my husband and I spent last night and this morning watching the Ken Burns documentary on Lewis and Clark. It originally came out more than 20 years ago and we've seen it more than once over the years on PBS, but we recently picked it up on video at a thrift store and needed to watch it to see if it even worked. It did and I found myself drawn in to this remarkable story once again.

I say it feels somewhat metaphorical because it left me reminded that we never know what lies ahead, even when we think we have a pretty good idea, and that what seem like insurmountable odds are often overcome. The trials and tribulations of the Corps of Discovery as they made this journey were almost inconceivable. And to think that Sacagawea went along, with a newborn, and not only survived the journey to the Pacific and back, but that her son thrived astonishes me yet again. Not only did she go along, but she may been the linchpin that held everything together and kept them from being murdered more than once.

May this new year and new decade bring us enlightenment and restore our sense of direction. I'd like to think that the forces that came together in 1804 can still exert themselves again 216 years later.

I joined this blog just a few weeks age and enjoy it so much! It's rare to find on-line communication that is so honest, kind, and thoughtful (as in thinking rather than reacting). And best of all, it is by and for old/er people! We are fortunate to have lived long enough to experience "old age", which for many of us translates into a greater love and gratitude for life.

My personal goal for 2020 is simply to be able to continue what feeds my spirit: reading and learning, participating in discussion groups, taking care of my grandchildren, gardening, and staying in touch with the people I care about.

My hope for our country is that liberals and conservatives can recognize we're in this together and stop demonizing one another. We really need to work together to understand and address the big issues of our times.

Welcome, 2020! I will work hard to
turn my adopted state. arizona, either blue or at least more purple, to elect gun sense majorities in the Senate and keep them in the House so that the Background Check Bill finally gets passed and to continue to educate families about the importance of keeping guns away from children and family members that may be a danger to themselves or others. Go, MOMS!

Although preventing gun violence is the issue I chose to work on, I also care about replacing the current administration with one that values human beings more than wealth and power.

Personally, I am working on being kinder and more patient. Right now if I see one of my peers (invariably an old white guy) walk into a restaurant wearing a MAGA or Trump 2020 hat, I still feel like walking up and screaming “How CAN you support a guy like him?” which is fruitless as well as rude!

Happy New Years to all my follow Ronnie followers and to you too, Ronnie. I loved reading everyone's comments...I will add my own. I am down and out and depressed about what lies ahead for the USA. Perhaps reading the new Margaret Atwood book is scaring me or perhaps just knowing about how our Supreme Court is stacked by you know who is enough. Humans are short sighted. They will vote for power. They will vote for wealth. A high stock market is the ticket to keep the moron monster in place. Sigh..Horror.

Wishing all a good 2020. I want to be wrong. Universe are you listening? ???

Thank you Susan R for reminding me of these words from Cornel West,  “I cannot be an optimist but I am a prisoner of hope.” 

They brought to mind another gentleman's words I first read in the 70's, Lewis Thomas, writing essays for a medical journal. I think this may have been in his book "Lives of a Cell : Notes of a Biology Watcher". (not certain) but it seems more relevant today than ever before. My wish for all of us is that this wise man is right and we as humans will find our 'connectedness'  and common purpose once again.

  "I maintain, despite the moment's evidence against the claim, that we are born and grow up with a fondness for each other, and we have genes for that. We can be talked out of it, for the genetic message is like a distant music, and some of us are hard-of-hearing. Societies are noisy affairs, drowning out the sound of ourselves and our connection".
Lewis Thomas  

May your blessings continue Ronni. I'm afraid this new year will bring more concerns for me as I learn to work with my dear husband. All I can say is dementia is a b... and we are just starting.

Wishing the planet a better 2020 than it had in 2019. As for me, it's just another year and "we'll see what happens" (to quote the most deplorable occupant of the Oval Office in my lifetime). Que sera sera. . .BIG hopes for the November election!

Happy New Year Ronnie and to all of you! Always a pleasure to read your posts Ronnie. I learn so much from all of you. Let’s take a day at a time and live life fully!

Belated Happy New Year, Ronni!

January is my favorite month, I think. One of your readers (?) on an earlier post paraphrased from Anne of Green Gables about the New Year being “fresh, with no mistakes in it”. That resonates with me.

After days and days of dreary rain and blank grey-white skies, we finally have a glorious blue sky today. I feel my soul rise. Wishing you and your “collective” health and joy for 2020.

I'm an optimist. I have some back pain, but am managing it. I left my old home but made some new friends. Am exercising more regularly. And I recognize that politics have gotten out of hand, with hate on both sides, but I have hope for better in the future. (Why? Because when you actually talk to people, unlike the media, most of them are reasonable and respectful, even with people they disagree with.)

Hi Ronni - thank you for all the pertinent and thoughtful comments ... you make me think. I hope your life carries on in its golden glow - and I too am so grateful for the blogging fraternity.

The world is another story let's hope we can come through unscathed - with thoughts to us all - cheers to you, yours and all of us - Hilary