health – Andy writes!

The obligatory end-of-year wrap-up post you’ve been waiting for

The year in writing, recognition, loss, and life

If nothing else, 2024 for me was a year of transition and disruption. And — I hope — a year I learned to be more grateful and empathetic.

After 40 years of full-time work, much of it in academia, I entered a new phase of life last January. Some call it retirement, but it has hardly been that. My pursuit of creative writing and some freelance work has kept me busy enough. In addition, my wife and I and our cat had a couple of health scares that made us reevaluate our values and gave us greater insight into the workings of the U.S. health care system, the good, bad, and ugly of it. We also mourned the passing of a few friends from our church family and continue to honor their memory.

In other words, a lot of life happened in 2024. Here are some highlights from the year:

The first post-pandemic Leap Day

The COVID-19 pandemic split time into before and after sections as significantly as B.C. and A.D.

Today is the first Leap Day of our new era.

By new era, I mean the post-pandemic times we now find ourselves in.

Even though it’s only been four years since 2020, COVID-19 seems to have split time into before and after sections as significantly as B.C. and A.D (or BCE and CE, if you prefer).