{"id":56472,"date":"2024-01-20T00:03:19","date_gmt":"2024-01-20T00:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=56472"},"modified":"2024-01-20T00:03:19","modified_gmt":"2024-01-20T00:03:19","slug":"journey-gets-brighter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=56472","title":{"rendered":"Journey gets brighter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Many of you — those who follow this blog — know about the journey I have taken for the past year.<\/p>\n

It started out painfully. It got better over time as I jumped into my pickup and — with Toby the Puppy riding shotgun — traveled to both coasts of this great nation.<\/p>\n

We bid a good fu**ing riddance<\/em> to 2023. My sons and I burned calendars in my back yard the evening of Dec. 31. I had just said so long to my puppy on Dec. 1, ending the year with nearly the pain I felt when I lost my bride, Kathy Anne, to cancer near the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n

But now a new year has arrived. We’re three weeks into 2024 and I am happy — no, thrilled and delighted<\/em> — to report that the pain has all but subsided. I have laid the foundation for a new life in North Texas.<\/p>\n

I am committing to some worthwhile projects. I am socializing more. I vowed to find the light at the end of that dark journey and I am going to declare that the light is shining brightly on me. I hope it shines on my sons, my daughter-in-law and my granddaughter.<\/p>\n

We have all been through a lot together. I hope they all know how indebted I am for the strength they have shown and demonstrated and I am hoping they have received some strength and encouragement from their old man. They know I love them with every beat of my heart.<\/p>\n

My friends all have said that I always<\/em> will have those moments when emotion takes control of my senses. I get it. Honestly, I truly do.<\/p>\n

But I will be damned forever if I let it control me as I soldier on with the rest of my life.<\/p>\n

I am looking forward to a year of adventure, I hope a surprise or three, and one that produces plenty of additional cherished memories.<\/p>\n\n

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Many of you — those who follow this blog — know about the journey I have taken for the past year. It started out painfully. It got better over time as I jumped into my pickup and — with Toby the Puppy riding shotgun — traveled to both coasts of this great nation. We bid … Continue reading Journey gets brighter<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[10124,6016],"class_list":["post-56472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-kathy-anne","tag-toby-the-puppy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56472"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56473,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56472\/revisions\/56473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}