Looking back, looking forward

2017 is almost done. At the end of the year, it’s time to take a look back at the year, find things that were good and weren’t good, and then look ahead to the upcoming year. I’ll share more about my personal goals for 2018 tomorrow.

My first gut reaction in thinking about 2017 is that it sucked. I can’t really be more blunt than that. Why? Well, it goes back to 2016. In November of 2016, my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer. It spread quickly throughout his body and in March of 2017, he was called home. My parents live 3 hours from me, so I had lots of back and forth trips. I am not complaining, that’s my responsibility as their son. But that cast a huge pall over the year. From March through about late October, I was in a fog. I didn’t realize how much of a fog I was in until it lifted. And I can’t really explain it.

Another challenge was that my wife was continuing to work on her masters’ degree. She has been taking classes online from a University in California. We live in Texas. The first semester of 2017, she was taking 2 classes. One of the classes met on Monday and Thursday night for the first 6 weeks of the semester. The other class was Tuesday night. All the classes were from 8:30-11 or so. She was working full time as well. On top of everything with my dad, I had to be supportive husband, take on more responsibility at home, and continue to somehow keep my sanity. By the grace of God, I did.

I had a goal of having a musical composition published by the time I turned 40. I had a piece that I submitted, and was accepted, but hasn’t been published yet because of some apparent financial issues with the publisher. I turned 40 in September and didn’t quite meet that goal.

I had spent a few years now creating a brand and a blog called Harmanny Music. In May, for many and various reasons, I killed it. But, of course, in December, I started this blog, so there’s something positive to come from all of that!

On top of everything else, I live in the northern part of Houston. At the end of August, we had a visitor. Harvey dropped a bunch of rain on this area. People lost everything. Thankfully for us, we “only” lost power for 2 and a half days and were able to borrow a generator from a friend. But this radically changed things for the whole area. For me, it definitely got me thinking about what really matters. Is it stuff? Is it memories? Is it something else?

And in thinking through the year, my gut reaction to 2017 isn’t my final reaction. 2017 didn’t suck. I learned so much about myself, my faith and the strength that God gives me. I’ve grown as a person. I turned 40, which isn’t a big deal. I actually had someone say yes, they would publish a composition that I wrote. My wife is now finished with all of her masters’ classes, and just has to write her thesis. This has been a two year journey for all of us, and we’ve made it through. I’m blessed to have 2 beautiful daughters and I’m proud of who they are becoming and I’m humbled by them each and every day. The biggest thing that I realized about 2017 is how blessed I am to be my father’s son. I didn’t say it much, or even as often as I should have, and since his passing, have realized something new almost daily of how he impacted my life. The biggest one is his encouraging me to make music and to make music in church.

So how about you? How would you say your 2017 went? Good? Not so good? The good news is that 2018 is a new start. Comment with how your 2017 was or join the Facebook group and comment there!

Also, I want to give you a huge thank you for visiting the blog! I’m humbled and amazed that someone actually wants to read what I write. Please share it with others, as that’s the best way to help me get the word out!