As I watch the rain trickle into the powered covered snow decks of our cabin here in Lake Arrowhead, I felt like writing my thoughts and feelings down surrounding this past year. I’m sure most of you are in total agreement with me in saying, 2016 sucked the big one!! I personally cannot wait to welcome in 2017, after viewing or experiencing one tragedy after another this past year.

It was awful to start 2016 off with the deaths of our beloved David Bowie, Glenn Frey and Prince! And to end it just as badly with the deaths of our beloved Princess Lea, Carrie Fisher, her mother, Debbie Reynolds one day behind her and George Michael who shared the same birthday month and year as me! Maybe it’s the age of most of the baby boomers and the fact that there are so many of us that can relate strongly to these losses. They were staples of our youth that has passed by way too quickly. We grew up together with their music, movies and images ingrained in our minds forever. They represented how fast and fleeting life truly is to have died so young and/or tragic.

2016 will also mark how divided and split we are as Americans with our political views. And how much change is happening in our world that is right there in your face with social media on a daily basis. It’s hard to ignore the status of our world as a whole and the struggles we are facing as humanity hangs by a thread. If we can survive 2016 and venture into 2017 with any kind of positive optimism for whatever is we have to be grateful for, I believe we may have a chance to take a turn for a much better future. Life is truly a gift that we must cherish each and every day. I’m choosing to remain optimistic about 2017 and wish everyone a blessed New Year, one that is filled with love and great success. We must all dream as big as possible about each year being better than the last because that is what we will ultimately create for ourselves.

I think 2016 is a turning point for mankind to reflect and remember, as we move forward in the great unknown future that is the gift of this life; we are living right here and now. So a toast to 2017, may you shed light on the darkness so many have faced and give us all hope for a brighter tomorrow!