What a strange year it's been

It's been full of plenty of ups and downs. Some great highs and some terrible lows.

As many of you know, my grandmother lost her battle with cancer in August this year.

That was about as low as things have been for me in only 34 years.

It was painful to deal with. Difficult to handle.

Things changed rather abruptly following the death of my grandmother.

But, life has moved on. And that's what I expected and it's also what she would want.

The highs of 2007, at least for me, have started coming toward the end of the year. Sure, there were plenty of great things that happened prior, though.

I came back to Brazil after being away for more than five years, something I had wanted to do for quite a long time.

Coming back to work for the newspaper was a wonderful thing. I had previously learned so much from former Editor Jim Dressler and am so grateful to have known him.

He truly is a mentor. Someone I have always looked up to.

I hope that the current staff at The Brazil Times makes him proud.

They make me proud.

Life looked like it was moving in a great direction until August.

After my grandmother died, I felt like I slipped into a funk. I started losing interest in things that I had previously enjoyed.

But then, a revelation.

It hit me nearly two months ago. She wouldn't want me to sit and sulk. When I was younger, she so enjoyed grabbing her acoustic guitar and playing the three chords she knew, singing along to songs from her past. She loved it when I would grab the guitar and play a few tunes.

She would never want me to quit playing music. She would never want me to sit around and feel so empty.

That wasn't who she was.

So, life started moving forward.

I started enjoying playing music again. I started enjoying life again.

And that's when things started taking a turn for the better.

Things look so great heading into 2008. And I can't wait.