Knock, knock….

This week, on Facebook, my good friend Laura posted pictures of their new fish house.

Can I just say that I’m awe-struck by the sheer courage and fortitude of a woman who would willingly, joyfully, stay in a fish house on Red Lake with her husband, two grown children and two springer spaniels?  The fish were biting, according to her post, which I’m sure helped tremendously in the “fun” department.  And the fish house is nothing like the fish houses I remember.  It is the Taj Mahal of fish houses. A veritable ice castle.

Ice castle or not, she is my hero this week. Seriously. Not even kidding.  If my family of four tried to spend even 24 hours eating, sleeping and fishing in such close quarters, I can guarantee you that the next post on Facebook anyone saw from me would be from prison.  This is the main reason we don’t take long car rides together.  We love one another, but we are a family who needs to spread out in order to feel the love.

But you go, Laura.  You go.  You give me hope that we’ll take that long car trip together yet.

It is the last week of 2014.  A  year that has proven, time and again, what human beings are capable of when it comes to both good and evil on a global and national scale. For our family, it was a year of  some big victories and a few small disappointments, too.  As I read through the Christmas letters from family and friends, it is obvious that the scales tip at random for all of us. Some years we get luckier than others.   A college graduation and new job for one of ours and good grades and the finish line in clear sight for the other one give me hope that 2015 will be a good year, too.  That, as they make the rounds, Tragedy and his brothers Grief and Illness miss us for one more year.

Yep.  My wish for 2015 is that those sweet sisters, Hope and Health and Joy come knocking on our door instead. And whether you’re in a fish house, a castle, or some place in between, it is my hope for you, too.

Happy New Year!