The best thing was seeing the freshmen Democratic Congressional Representatives show up in January, and take over control of the House from the corrupt, do-nothing, Russian-loving Republicans. I feel proud that I worked all fall last year canvassing for Democrat candidate Jennifer Wexton in the Virginia Tenth Congressional District against Republican incumbent Congresswoman Barbara Comstock (Barbara Trumpstock, as she was known in her district) and hers was the first district in the entire country on election night to flip blue.
The worst thing was the impeachment of the president, not because he didn't deserve it, because he did, but that it showed what a drastic, ignorant mistake 63 million Americans made in 2016 in taking a fanciful flyer on a fraud artist and voting him in despite 66 million Americans voting for Clinton, and he has diminished America's greatness faster and faster ever since his cruddy, dystopian American Carnage inauguration speech. The best thing will be when Trump is removed from office next year, either by the Senate after a trial or by patriotic Americans after November's election.
The best thing for me this year was, after undergoing the last of four eye surgeries in the spring, my return to running in May after a two year health-related layoff. I maintained the three-runs per week schedule despite ups and downs during the intervening eight months of niggling injuries, difficulty getting started (I couldn't finish a half-mile run the first week) and lack of time during car trips (I made up the scheduled runs by doubling up the next week), and I even ran a bonafide 5k race in October (32:39) and dropped my informal time in my neighborhood mile from 10:13 in August to 9: 26 this month.
The worst thing for me this year were two potentially serious household accidents I suffered that fortunately had no long term effects (the superficial wounds soon adequately healed), that unfortunately were the result of diminishing strength or balance from my progression through my sixties. I countered this through increased caution or care, attending a Ti-Chi class offered at the community center (so it's affordable for us retired folk) by a long-time practice master (he teaches at spook HQ also).
The best thing this year were all the friends or relatives I caught up with in some fashion like Liz, Steve, Jimmy, Lew, Rhea, Eric, one or more siblings, Mike, Mike, Mike, Courtney, Lisa, Evan, Devin, Greg, Helen, Addie, Saty, Steve and others. It takes continuing effort, because it's so easy to let associations slip away, perhaps forever.
The worst thing was the continuing absence of certain people in my life like, of course, my three sons (I hope at the very outset that they are all alive and well--think of this--I absolutely know that if anything terrible happened to any one of them, their mother would not tell me about it, ever), at least a sibling and perhaps other relatives--a sign of the terrible times we live in, thank you Mr. President and your party and rabid unthinking base--and at least one formerly good friend who has drifted away or outright excluded me, despite my best efforts, perhaps, unfairly, because of what I am (an older white male)., not who I am.
The best thing personally this year was my visit to England and France, London and Paris, Oxford and Normandy, in the spring. I had never been outside of North America before, and seeing the five D-Day beaches, the Bayeux tapestry, Notre Dame, Versailles and Giverny in France and Oxford, St. Paul's Church, the (replica) Globe Theatre, a Shakespeare play there (Richard II) and Trafalgar Square in England was special.
The worst thing personally this year was getting ripped off by Motel 6 and Booking.Com during my car trip through five southern states in July when I went to a baseball game in Atlanta by Motel 6 Stadium Atlanta double charging me for a night's stay and then blaming Booking.Com, which is unreachable. It was so representative of a person's encounter with American corporate structure, to sneakily rip and tear the unsuspecting consumer and when he or she complains then to blame the consumer ("you deliberately and purposefully reserved two rooms, sir") and there is no redress for the little person, especially under republican rule. and their total disdain for any sort of meaningful regulation of rapacious monied interests.
The coming year will be the best of (recent) times. Us patriotic Americans won't allow anything less, unless we aren't permitted to get beyond the prevalent extreme gerrymandering foisted upon us by Republican legislatures, blatant voter suppression underlining photo-ID laws coming out of GOP statehouses, unethical, immoral and antidemocratic voter rolls purging given us by, you guessed it, Republican Secretaries of State in places like Ohio and Georgia, and the inherently unfair and stifling electoral college which enables the minority to tyrannize the majority.
