Here we are, somewhere in time between the holiday trifecta of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. This time, like many times in our lives, makes its way around to us each year. Hmmm…like clockwork. Somewhere in time these times shift and change, sometimes slowly, so slowly they feel almost permanent. They feel as if they have somehow made it to a forever place in time.

Like a massive granite boulder, these times seem poised to sit unchanged, a reliable waypoint to reconvene with those that share our particular orbit in time. Always there, always steady, always solid, always right where it was the last time you moved through that time. A forever place, or, as the great philosopher, Buzz Lightyear, was fond of professing, “To infinity and beyond!”

But, just as that massive granite boulder is sure to erode, bit by bit, as the rain, wind, and snow wear on it day in and day out, so too are our forever places, and one-by-one, those that shared those places. Sure, time heals all wounds, but it also takes no prisoners and leaves no witnesses. So it goes.

I appreciate Buzz’s enthusiasm, optimism, confidence, and selfless dedication to all those that share his orbit. We should all be so lucky as to have someone (a real someone) with those characteristics in our corner. We’re all on a trajectory to eventually fall, might as well fall with a little style and panache while surrounded by those that want the best for us and we for them.

The holidays are the time when many of our oldest and most cherished memories were forged. So inevitably when this time rolls around, so to do those memories. The results of this yearly slow roll of memories can be mixed. Sometimes happy, sometimes sad, many times a bit of both, dependent upon the company you keep and how heavy their hand is when mixing your Tom