Some odds and ends to start the New Year. Today's themes included new starts and Haiti.
Today marks the completion of 3 years of daily blogging. It has been useful to me in so many ways. If only I could find a way to monetize it and get paid for doing what is now essentially a daily habit, that would be great. 😉 But seriously, I know for a fact it will pay of in some significant way in 2024 when I will be doing a ton of writing because 2024 will be ...
The year of the dissertation. I will need to make my dissertation a top priority this year if it is going to get finished - and it WILL get finished. I have come too far to not get to the point where I can force people to call me "Dr. Gross"!
Today I wasn't thinking about the dissertation, though, since January 1st is ...
Haiti's Independence Day. Our friends, the Michels, invited me and others over for pumpkin soup, the traditional dish for this special day. (Storly Michel is Haitian and he and his wife Kate were instrumental in introducing our family to Haiti in 2010.) It was wonderful. (Though I have had a sinus infection that has travelled south to my vocal cords, so it was hard to communicate.)
Even though I wasn't feeling topnotch, I resisted taking a nap after I got home because for some reason this year - instead of focusing on a bunch of New Year's resolutions - I was determined to find at least one significant unfinished project to complete before 2024 ramps up.
I have plenty to choose from, so I found one of the oldest.
Years ago, for the arrival of each of our 4 kids, I decided to make a cross out of stained glass to have in the hospital room during the births. (One of my cooler ideas, I must say.)
Amazingly, I actually followed through with each of the kids, and so Melissa and I have 4 similar, yet unique, crosses in our possession which will someday be passed down to the kids.
They are nothing fancy, but they obviously hold a ton of sentimental value.
Well, we took those crosses to Haiti with us when we moved there in 2013 and not too long after we got settled, Caleb's got broken. (A story for another day.)
To fix stained glass is not quick or easy, even if you have the proper equipment. Which I did not in Haiti.
So I kept the broken cross and brought it back to the States and it has been taking up counter space in my home office for the past three years...
Making me feel guilty.
I had tried a couple of times to simply super glue it, but glue was just not doing the job. The cross folded forward each time.
So today seemed like the perfect time to put this little project to rest once and for all and so I dug out my soldering iron, flux, and copper tape and I DID IT RIGHT.
It felt good.
And the fact that the cross now has some scars from its time in Haiti seems symbolically appropriate:
Nobody who lives in Haiti can ever escape being broken in significant ways.
Caleb, I can now die in peace, knowing I won't be passing your cross to you in several pieces. 😏
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