I Survived

By Gordon Hopkins There are just a few scant days before 2026. The New Year is upon us and, with it, all the promise and excitement and opportunity that comes with completing yet another circuit of our sun. It is impossible not to think about what lies ahead. Nope, I am not ready for it. I really did not enjoy 2025 at all. It is easily one of my least favorite years, along with 1492 (How could Columbus have “discovered” America if there were already people living there? My grade school history teacher really didn’t like that question.) and 1812. (The overture that made the year famous is sooo loud.) Given how rotten the years was, you’d think I’d be glad for it to be over. Yet, the year feels somehow unfinished to me. In many ways, it feels like I’ve lost ground, that I’m starting off no better, and in some ways worse, than I did in 2024. In December of 2024, the bumper came off of my car after getting stuck in the mud. It recently happened again. I am ending 2025 and entering 2026, once again, bumperless.I don’t know what exactly it was but I clearly did something wrong, and I’ve only got six days left to fix it, whatever it is. Wow. That’s depressing. I was unsure what to write about in this column, so I just sat at the keyboard and started typing. Clearly, no one wants to end the old year or start the new year moaning about how crummy this year has been. They certainly don’t want to read about someone moaning about how crummy this year has been. On the other hand, no one really wants to read a bunch of platitudes about how things are bound to get better and the new year is an opportunity for a new start and all that tommyrot. So, how about this? I survived. That’s a two-word sentenced that sums up my feelings about 2025. I remain cautiously optimistic I will do the same in 2026.

12.24.25

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