Believe it or not, Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away. It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? The old saying that “Time flies when you’re having fun” is true. One day, we stay up until midnight and scream, “Happy New Year!” and then, in what seems like a few short weeks, we see Christmas decorations in store windows. The year has gone by so quickly, has it been a good year for you?

Towards the end of each year, I like to take the time to reflect on what happened in the past year, and I determine whether or not things went “my way”. Every year has its ups and downs, but if you take the time to ponder the events that unfolded in “your” 1997 by weighing the good against the bad, you can see whether or not this was “your year”. I ask you, was it?

I consider myself a very positive person. I always try to look at the positive in everything. Sure, there are times when my life can compare to the stock market in 1929, but I try my hardest to look past that and find a positive aspect, any positive aspect, that will make me forget the negative. Many people focus on the negative things in their lives and miss all of the positive ones. That behavior can seriously affect someone. Everyone does it once in a while, you know what, so do I sometimes, but better to just accept the negativity in our lives and embrace the positive. If you try it, you’ll see its immediate effect.

Lets take a look at “my” 1997, shall we? So far this year, I got the job I always wanted here at the Eagle, I met the girl of my dreams, and I made some really great friends. Did anything negative happen to me this year? Sure, I just don’t care because the positive outweighs the negative by tons. So, when I sit down at Thanksgiving dinner with my family this year, I have a lot to be thankful for.

“When I was 25, it was a very good year…”