2016 Ends

2016 was filled with many miles and several continents while moving from Sweden to the U.S. to Venezuela.There were little vacations to Greece, Finland, Estonia, and Spain in the first half of the year. It was great living in Europe and having the ease of getting to other countries from Stockholm. I'd be happy to move back to anywhere in that neighborhood of the world.

The summer was spent driving back and forth across the U.S. on home leave from Texas to California, back to Texas, and then on to Georgia and DC to visit family everywhere. We had a wonderful wedding in Las Vegas and short honeymoon in New Orleans to make the year even more interesting. The Miami check-in was just passing through the airport on the way to Caracas. All of those dots except for Miami were made by driving across the U.S. so we saw a lot. The U.S. is my home country on this planet and it was great visiting with my family, but there's a whole world out there to be seen and experienced. (sorry family!)

Now we live in Venezuela and the check-ins for 2017 won't be as widespread or nearly as often. Regardless, I continue to be fortunate to live in yet another nice part of the world. It's actually a fairly good place to be if you stay in the nicer and safer parts, despite the many challenges of this country and their struggling economy.

You just have to accept problems with a smile, mitigate what you can, and laugh at what you can't. Complaining, grumbling, and fighting against the way things are doesn't help much. It just makes life more miserable if you can't deal with the realities of life and enjoy living.

Fortunately we tend to keep a positive outlook and roll with it. It's what the locals seem to do. No matter how bad it gets they just want to laugh and enjoy life so they do their best to stay friendly and happy. It's in their nature here.

Tomorrow is another day and things will be different, even if it's to make us better appreciate those easier problems of yesterday. It'll all turn around again eventually to a better trend. Otherwise, I know we'll move again to a whole new place with new opportunities (and problems) to enjoy. That always resets things and shakes up the cycle of life a bit. I love moving!

Life goes on and time moves fast. I'm thankful to be wherever I happen to be and I hope to make the most of whatever each day brings. Here comes 365 more of them to try to enjoy the best I can!