Taken in toto, this last year sucked. For me, it was a year of terrible loss (my mother and Charles' mother passed away within months of each other) and all-too-close-to-loss (my son was in intensive care with pneumonia for a week). Plus, the economy tanked with a vengeance, and a lot of people are now out of work or homeless or both. The presidential election was almost the only bright spot, at the national level.

But the one good thing about tragedy and near-tragedy is that you find out who your friends are, and how very kind they can be. Someone recently sent me this wonderful Irish toast, which I am posting as my summation for 2008:

"There are good ships and wood ships
that sail upon the sea,
But the best ships are friendships
and may they always be."

Here is to 2009 being better than 2008!