I learned about perspective at an early age. I learned that when you are clinging to the utmost branch and looking down, a leafy maple tree is much taller than it was when you first gazed up at it. It’s a child’s conundrum to ponder how the tree grew, unnoticed, even as it was being climbed! Later I began to perceive the passage of time, often motionless when I was very young, in an entirely different way. My personal theory of relativity had nothing to do with speeding trains or intergalactic travel, or even the regular rhythm of our own sun and moon. The pulse of life quickened, and, before I knew it, I found myself getting up on Mondays and going to bed on Fridays, or so it seemed. Holidays, birthdays and anniversaries became my speeding trains, arriving ever more frequently. New Year’s Eve? Didn’t we just do that? And so this year speeds toward the station. A lot of good things have happened along the way. We have risen to challenges and we’ve suffered losses. Through it all, the warm sense of community that sustains us has grown stronger and sunk its roots a little deeper. We will ring in the New Year, as we always do, with abundant hope for a stronger community and a better world. Looking back at 2008, and our lives, is a little like looking down through the branches of that tree. The distance may be dizzying, but the gentle swaying and spectacular view are nothing short of exhilarating and there’s no place we’d rather be! Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! Blessed Be!

Dave