Well, here we are on the last day of 2008. I feel like I should do some kind of valedictory post, a look back over the year, or predictions for next year, or some kind of list, or … something. Everybody else is.
But I got nothin’. It’s funny, at the end of a year when the world seemed to get faster and crazier — the epic drama of the election, shriller and shriller warnings from scientists about global warming, the biggest economic crash in a half-century — I find myself preoccupied with with the small-scale and domestic. My strongest memories of this year will mostly be of moments laughing around the dinner table; my three year old’s passionate-if-incoherent stories about the adventures of the "Minium Falcon"; my five year old’s first attempts to sound out written words; reading the Narnia books at night, my older boy’s head on my shoulder, the little one blinking hazily against sleep.
Thank goodness for the bubble of joy and calm I’ve got up here in North Seattle. ‘Cause it’s been an intense year, and next year — nay, the next decade — is shaping up to be a white-knuckle roller coaster ride. I’ll jump back on it next week, but for now, I’m enjoying the quiet.
Peace and, as always, many thanks to all Grist’s readers for their support, knowledge, passion, and participation.
[Postscript: check out Grist’s top green stories of 2008.]
