Dear LPG,

I hope that readers will indulge me again as I talk a bit about myself.

People say that it is not worth making new year’s resolutions but, even though it is not quite new year yet, I have decided to write a message by way of an update in the hope that LPG will be able to post it exactly one year after they shared my first ever internet message. (►►►)

I have to admit to having not achieved as much as I would have liked to really.  I have been diagnosed with sleep apnoea and I have become one of the many people who sleep with breathing apparatus attached to my face.  My father died, and I was not able to come back to the UK to say a proper goodbye, and my children have finally left home leaving me all the extra time on my hands that I mentioned was missing this time last year.   I have to say that I have not used that time as well as I planned to either.  They have also left a bit of a void in my life that got filled with thoughts, many of my Dad and others of regret, rather than all the things I promised to do last year, and the Florida weather with its hurricanes and sunshine still makes for a leisurely and often waring daily routines.    The long and short of it is that I supposed there is a degree of sense in not bothering with resolutions.

Some will say that like everybody else I did not achieve much now that I look back, but I still keep a pen and paper beside me when I sleep so that I can catch at least some of those mid-dream thoughts I mentioned last year, and this is my third message to LPG. When I see my little ones, we spend more time talking and less discussing the state of their rooms and who should wash the dishes, I have learned a lot more about communicating with my English family members, and consequently, how much easier and cheaper it is to use online communication tools like WhatsApp, although I have only learned the basics of how to use it.    I think that the philosophy I mentioned in my last new year’s letter is making slow progress, but progress all the same, and I do still take the time to write down at least one achievement I have made at the end of each day.

So, I did not achieve all I wanted to, and I have to say that this year, my new year’s resolution list will not be that different to last year’s but there has been a little progress. 

Even taking the time to write these words has helped me to think positively about my 2018, and look forward, albeit with the same set of resolutions for the most part, to an even more positive 2019.

I have written about the good and bad aspects of my version of the year we have just left behind and hope that, now all the 2019 countdowns and New Year parties are over, at least some of the readers out there will take the time to prepare a little list of the good and bad things that happened during their 2018, resulting in positive thoughts and plans for the year that starts today.

LB, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

LPG has found a few websites which offer some positivity on the subject of New Year’s resolutions and wishes all our readers a very happy and positive year to come.

(►►►)   (►►►)