by Phil Pothier

Each New year’s eve is very hard for me.

The future intersects the past, you see!

For one brief time the present disappears!

Then everything is future or arrears.

Shall I give up my mem’ries? Not a chance!

And yet into the future I must glance.

At my age memories are nearly all I have,

They ease my heart and psyche like a salve.

The sand is almost finished in the glass.

The future now is short, it will not last!

Some memories are happy: some are sad.

Yet both are part of this good life I’ve had.

The times of joy beside the sad despair

Are only noticed if we both compare!

The sweet is only sweet beside the sour.

And so the both appear in every hour.

What of the future, who can ever tell?

God has a plan I know He loves me well!

So we look back and learn from our mistakes

And trust the Lord, and wait ‘til morning breaks!

The New Year

From my diary:

Snow start-ed falling at 3 a.m. on New Years Day which happened to be Sunday. Five miles of slippery road lay between my schoolhouse home on Carrington Road (at 536 feet above sea level) and church in the center of Montgomery (at about 1,000 feet elevation). Since sum-mer of 1958 I had been (unpaid) church pianist/organist and choir director so it was advisable for me to be there. Up Herrick Road and through the woods the distance was a bit over three miles. Like Gideon, in Judges chapter 6, I had a system for asking guidance. I prayed whether to take the car or walk. The answer was “Walk.”

Wearing dungaree legs outside overshoes kept my feet dry. White shirt and coat with hood was sufficient protection from this mild storm. Climbing through Williston’s big pasture and Avery’s woods, I found Bob Howland running his snow blower. Taking son Eddy the mile to church he caught up at Main Road and took me in.

25 mountaintop folks made the congregation, four in the choir. Minister, Bill Call didn’t have to serve his other church on Chester Hill this morning, but forgot his sermon notes and gave us an autobiography of coming to Christianity. There must have been

mention of “damna-tion” so little Bill asked his father why the min-ister swore so much.

I rode the mile back with Howlands, and got home through woods, pasture, and road by one o’clock. Snow was about two feet deep, but it was easy go-ing down. Telephoned my mother at Sarah Gillett Home in Westfield.

The town plow opened the road at 4 p.m. and, after rest and dinner with wife Elizabeth, I shoveled heavy, wet snow off paths and driveway.

Monday, January 2, was observed as the holiday. Eliz-abeth made another good dinner, but I didn’t eat as much as yesterday when I gained four pounds.

On way to work took our laundry to Mrs. Tella on Ridgeway Street, but her yard was too icy to drive in. We avoid putting wash-ing detergents in our septic tank.

A west-bound freight held up a line of cars at the Strathmore crossing in Mitteneague. Three cars got through. Then the gate went down again for a fast east-bound passenger train.

My party is surveying in Agawam for relocation of Route 57. Tom Cooney is my transitman. Fred Kaste has gone with Mul-vaney. I’m to get Joe Bogdan and Nick Defalco.

I took 8 mm movies of the men on coffee break at Mary Ann’s.

There is a stove in the trailer field office where we can get warm. When resident engineers finish their final records on the last constructed section of Route 57 assistant supervisor, Al Clout-ier, has asked to have the office and stove left for us.

The DPW phone is limited to 80 calls per month so I shall have to keep an eye on Vinny.

Harold Kallin showed me the “magic square:”

2 7 6

9 5 1

4 3 8

whose digits add up to 15 horizontally, vertically and diago-nally.

We have to get deed copies of properties along the 57 base-line, and I type the descriptions to send to Boston. Passing exam for Junior Civil Engineer also made me Registered Land Surveyor and Registered Professional Engineer. I got rubber stamps made at New England Blueprint.

Elizabeth had her helper, Mrs. Bodendorf, make an apple pie. Going home Mrs B. got her car stuck half way up Shanty Hill. I

By Clifton (Jerry) Noble, Sr.

backed it down and drove it up for her. Her son War-ren lost his laboratory and animals in the Pro-fessional Building fire, January 6, 1952. Mrs. B. hopes to be called back to Robinson Reminders February 1 where she can earn $60 a week with overtime.

January 4, Wednesday, is Elizabeth’s 35th birthday. She is ex-pecting in April so I gave her Dr. Spock as well as knee-length nylons. (She has an appointment January 21 with Dr. Wonson.)

Noon at Zayres in Agawam I got paper files for receipts, also paperback books on trees, animals, birds and flowers, Wizard of Oz 35 cents and Psychoanalysis by Brill 60 cents. Drygas is 39 cents. At the field office I worked on notebooks, went up Mill Street to see where new baseline will cross side streets. Snow and ice makes it quite a job. Assistant supervisor, Al, told me I may not have to fin-ish when they get through playing “musical chairs” in the Green-field district office. On the way home I stopped at Roberts grocery, Westfield library, both post offices, and Chadwick’s in Russell for a belated Sunday newspaper.

Bill Call, the young minister who reopened Montgomery Community Church, gave his farewell sermon, January 8. He and his new wife embark on missionary work in Africa.

Neighbor Doris Barnes tied up telephone for 45 minutes so I couldn’t call Elizabeth at noon. She has told Mrs. B that the only time we need the phone is noon and 9 a.m. when she calls her mother. I explained the situation to Miss Hebda at the telephone office, and she plans to leave Mrs. B on the 8-party line and get us a two-party line. This happened Friday, January 13.

January 15 a congregation of 45 heard the new Montgomery minister, Mr. Shears, give his sermon on “rebuilding the temple.”

Despite 4 feet of snow 24 grosbeaks came to our feeder. Snow is piled 8 feet high at corners of our driveway. Thursday, January 19, I got the car lubricated and washed. At home it was good to be inside the car where I could push as both doors were frozen shut. Sunday, January 22, the temperature started at -20 degrees.

Elizabeth claims to be allergic to fur (as a girl she had a small dog) so I leave my cat Fluffy across Herrick Road in our old “schoolhouse” with litterbox and oil stove.

Since I can’t eat most meat without regurgitating, I mix brew-ers yeast to make “Tiger Milk” and get protein.

I bought a heat cable from O.B. Parks to clear ice along the edge of the roof but spoiled it by plugging it in while it was bunched up. Parts of it melted.

Joe Adams and others are taking the evening extension course from Lowell Tech. He showed us the books and drawing instruments furnished.

January 29 I started working on income tax forms.

have become an essential tradition for all looking to grow from the mistakes of yesteryear. Simply put, a New Year’s resolu-tion is a firm decision made on New Year’s Eve or Day to do or refrain from doing something throughout the new year. They can include an immense variety of subjects, such as eat-ing healthier, quitting smoking, spending more time with fam-ily and friends, reducing spending on living expenses, and much more. They can be simple or complex, broad or specific; they can relate to something physical, mental, or emotional; they can relate to something that you are already proficient in but want to get better at, or they can relate to something you struggled with in the previous year that you wish to overcome. There is little restriction to a resolution, so long as it provides opportunities for growth of some form, the possibilities are endless.

It’s easy to see why New Year’s resolutions have become such a staple of the holiday; they act as a chance to become a better version of yourself in the next chapter of your life than you were in the previous one. It’s no wonder that so many people come up with unique resolutions each year! Yet despite this, sta-tistics show that a staggering 91% of New Year’s resolutions fail by mid-February. Thus, the question remains, why do they so often fail to come to fruition? According to Dr. Nicole Nasr, psychologist and founder of the online therapy platform Journey, it re-sults from the misguided mindset of many peo-ple attempting to act upon a resolution. Typically, people enter a resolution with the mantra “New Year, New Me” in mind. This mindset comes with the thought process that a beginning, such as the start of a new year, requires a “clean slate” of sorts. This implies that one must reinvent oneself to follow through with the growth that one seeks through their resolution. However, the idea of a clean slate is an inadvertently shallow motivation, as pushing for a total transformation hin-ders any real growth. The first reason is that a resolution made under the idea of complete transformation can often be lofty, ignoring the how and why of the associated goals and leaving you feeling overwhelmed.

Secondly, attempts to completely rebuild yourself require rigid planning that crumbles in the face of life’s many twists and turns, leaving you feeling dejected and unmotivated.

Finally, change doesn’t happen overnight! You’re the same

From Resolutions to Real Change

person on January 1st as you are on December 31st, and thus ac-tual growth requires you to nurture who you already are rather than completely reinvent yourself.

A New Approach to New Year’s Resolutions

Building upon that idea of nurturing who you already are, Dr. Nasr proposed a revised mantra of “New Year, Same Me”. This mindset focuses on the deeper reasoning, or the why, for your resolution. By targeting the root intentions for your be-haviors, you can work towards sustainable change and growth.

The first step is to establish the “why” behind this goal for the new year. Rather than settling for a vague resolution, consider one reason why that resolution is important to you. To illustrate the steps we’ll say the initial resolution is to lose weight. Do you want to lose weight because you seek more energy to enjoy life? Why do you want that energy? By asking these questions, you de-velop your understanding of your true inten-tions regarding improvement and growth in the new year.

After identifying the “why” of your resolution, the second step of the resolution mindset is to focus on the method that makes the journey fun. This can be done by participating in activities that evoke feel-ings within you. In our example, we want to lose weight be-cause we want more energy to enjoy life and “feel alive”. Ex-plore physical and healthy activities that resonate with you and allow you to feel that way rather than focusing solely on hitting a target weight by traditional methods. Such activities could include dancing, taking morning walks, or cooking healthy meals. No matter what they entail, the key is finding activities that make you feel more attuned to the growth you wish to achieve through your resolution via a variety of flexible means rather than attempting to take a shallow, arduous, straightfor-ward path to the finish line.

Now that you have a vision of the “why” and “how” to accomplish your resolution, the final step of this resolution pro-cess is to reframe your initial goal to reflect your more guided intentions. In doing so, shift the focus of your resolution to a broader, more meaningful aim that you can follow and grow from more effectively. Our initial resolution was to lose weight. Reframe it to say “I want to feel more energized in my body”. When you live your life with intention, the possibilities for growth and change expand exponentially, and that holds with New Year’s resolutions as well. Moreover, a resolution made with genuine intentions removes the pressure of meeting that resolution’s “deadline”, for the resolution is flexible; if you de-sire to lose weight and miss a day of exercise, you aren’t “fail-ing” your goal but rather are simply finding a different way to stay aligned with your deeper purpose.

Remaining Resolute in Resolutions

Undoubtedly the most difficult part of New Year’s resolu-tions is maintaining your goals for the whole year. Oftentimes, our goals require us to slowly work towards the growth we seek over many months, leaving us feeling dejected and disap-pointed when we don’t feel like we’re making progress. This, in conjunction with the idea that we must start with a “clean slate” every year, is the crux of why many people struggle to follow through with their resolutions. How-ever, the keys to successful growth lie within us as we already are and cannot be found by trying to “reinvent” oneself. Thus, one of the most crucial ideas that support Dr. Nasr’s “New Year, Same Me” resolution mindset is end-of-year reflections. Rather than starting over with the new year, think about what behaviors and strategies helped or hindered you in the pursuit of your goals for the previ-ous year. What did you learn, and how can you use that knowledge to continue working towards your goals in the new year? Reflect-ing upon the successes and challenges of the past year will build wisdom and flexibility that will contribute to substantial growth in the future.

Self-compassion is a key component of growth as well. When working to fulfill a resolution, reward yourself when you feel that you are putting in your utmost effort. Acknowl-edge your setbacks, change your approach to them, and keep moving forward. Take care of your physical and mental health when your pursuit of growth feels overwhelming. Most of all, nurture the aspirations and feelings that define your decision to pursue your resolution. Inciting positive change within our-selves can be a constant struggle, and it can be easy to fall into the mindset that we need to redefine ourselves to make a differ-ence. But in truth, the change we seek is within us, just waiting to be found. So let 2025 be the year that you deepen your under-standing of who you already are, Make a New Year’s resolution emboldened by genuine intention, and nothing will stop you from achieving the growth you desire.

Wishing you and your family a very happy New Year. Let’s make 2025 a good one.

a haystack.” That one-of-a-kind find is an “aha!” moment. So far I’ve been blessed with a number of those moments researching history. I’m going to share just a few of those times.

Finding Lt. Joseph Moor

Lt. Moor (1720-1776) was the original owner of the Moore House at 86 College Highway, He became a lieu-tenant in the 18th Regiment of the Connecticut Militia and was called to service in

August of 1776 to help defend New York City. He was captured by the British, imprisoned, and died on November 3, 1776. That death date has been documented by his memorial marker in the

Baptist Cemetery in North Granby, Connecticut, and in the published family genealogy in which his death entry is quoted from the old family Bible, which no longer exists. The author of the genealogy had concluded that he had died as a pris-oner of war in the British prison ship HMS Jersey outside of New York City. There was just one problem: several historians stated that the ship was not converted and used as a prison until 1779, three years after Joseph Moor’s death.

Fortunately, the complete boarding records, including prisoners, of the HMS Jersey, still sur-vive in the British National Archives outside of London, England. Online I was able to locate a genealogist who frequented there and hired him for a nominal fee to examine the records. A few days later he emailed me photographs of all the entries for the period that Moore should have been there. No Joseph Moor. No American prisoners. I was on the right track. The next question was, if he wasn’t imprisoned on the ship, then where was he imprisoned?

During my research, I kept on reading references to a Lt. Jabez Fitch, who was also captured by the British. He kept a small diary of his time as a prisoner of war. In the late fall of 1776, Fitch was imprisoned in the former Hampden Hall Tav-ern at the southwest corner of Broadway and Warren Street, just across from the city common. His diaries survived and were eventually transcribed and published in 1954. An online search led to the closest available copy at the UMass/Amherst Library. I eventually got there, located the book, and sat down. I checked the index, located a “Lt. More,” and zoomed in on the first entry:

[Sun. Nov. 3, 1776]

“About 11 o’clock old Lt: More of Simsbury in Connecticut, (who had been a Prisoner here before we came on Shore) Died, having been Sick for some Time.”

I had finally found Lt. Moor! Not satisfied with that, I tracked down the original diary in the New York Public Library and arranged to have digital copies made of several pages, which were made and are now in the collections of the South-

A few

Needles in

a Haystack

Grave stone of Lt. Joseph Moor

wick Historical Society. In the intervening years, the NYPL has digitized the entire diary in their possession and made it avail-able online (“Jabez Fitch Diary,” 1776-1777)

To have an actual death entry for a prisoner of war in New York City in late 1776 is almost unheard of! The city govern-ment was in limbo and no vital records were kept. Thousands of prisoners died there during the war, but almost none were documented like this. Talk about luck!

Finding Amasa Holcomb’s Personal

Copy of Strong’s Almanack.

Amasa Holcomb (1787-1875) was Southwick’s foremost intellect of the 19th century. He had a brilliant mind and absorbed knowledge like a dry sponge absorbs water. From his late uncle’s library, which was left to his family, he read books on ge-ometry, astronomy, and navigation. With limited schooling, he was primarily self-taught, read Latin and Greek, was an instructor at what is now Suffield Academy when he was 15 years old, was a survey-or, maker of surveying instruments, a civil engineer, Methodist preacher, the first manufacturer of tele-scopes in the United States, State Senator, early pho-tographer, and winner of several scientific awards.

In 1805 he purchased a copy of Nehemiah Strong’s An Astronomical Diary, Calendar or Almanack; for the Year of our Lord 1806. Strong had been the first professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Yale College, beginning in 1770 until 1781. For years he wrote almanacs that were considered among the best. The joy of compiling the information and getting it published was wearing on him though:

I am pretty well Tired of the Business. For 29 years past I have Successively furnished one or more Copies for Printer; generally two, sometimes three in a year. And I think I have done my Part. Tis an Elaborate fatiguing Business, and requires the closest care and Attention to do the Business with proper accuracy, and takes a large portion of my Time. (letter of 6 May 1803 to Elisha Bab-cock)

Supposedly, his 1804 almanac was to be his last, but he con-tinued writing and having them published for 1805, 1806, 1807, and 1808. He died on August 13, 1807, possibly never seeing his final almanac in print.

Despite Strong being a renowned mathematician and al-manac writer, he failed to predict and include the lunar eclipse of January 4, 1806, in his 1806 Almanac. This omission incensed Amasa Holcomb, who was still a teenager. Holcomb not only predicted it but observed it. As a result of this omission by Strong, Holcomb was prompted to write and publish almanacs for the years 1807 and 1808.

A few weeks ago I couldn’t sleep, so I got up and went to

the computer. My intent was to see if I could locate a copy of Holcomb’s 1807 Almanac. I mistakenly typed in “1806” instead, and one of the first entries was Nehemiah Strong’s almanac. I went to the site, looked at the pictures, and was utterly stunned: The brown paper wrapper was still there and on the inside of that wrapper was the following:

January 4th

Moon 9 Dig Eclipsed

visible &ce

The first Eclipse this

year was of the Moon

on the 4 day of January

and was left out of

this Almanac this

mistake is as supposed

The content and handwriting left no doubt that this almanac was the personal copy of Amasa Holcomb! This very copy is what triggered the desire on the part of Holcomb to write and publish his almanacs in the subsequent years. It’s now on exhibit at the Southwick History Museum.

Finding Holcomb’s 1808 Almanac

While there are a few copies of Amasa Holcomb’s 1807 Almanac, no major libraries are reporting any copies of his 1808 issue. In 1914 there was one copy located in Hartford. When I contacted their rare book department a few years back, and they said that they could not find either a copy or a listing for it.

One day I just went online and tapped in the “1808 Ama-sa Holcomb almanac.” Lo and behold up popped an antique shop in Connecticut that had one listed! The next available day I went to the shop but was greeted by a “CLOSED” sign. It turned out that they were moving out of that space and that they no longer had regular hours. I called several times until I finally was able to speak to someone and make an appoint-ment. I was there on time. I inquired about the almanac, was shown the copy, and was wowed. There was no doubt that it was the real deal, although it had a partially torn last page. In a few minutes, I walked out with what may very well have been the only copy of the almanac in the world. If I had waited even a day or two, I might not have rendezvoused with them, and wouldn’t have been able to acquire the historic item. It too is on exhibit in the museum.

Above:

Amasa

HolcombBelow:

Nehemiah

Strong

K2247 is the license plate number on my car. I wonder how many readers know your license plate? Read on to discover the reason I know mine.

Massachusetts was the first state to issue license plates in 1903. In 1956 the size 6” X 12” became standard for all states. The K series (letter K followed by numbers) was first issued in 1951-1952. Those plates were maroon and said MASS 51 on the bottom.

My grandfather, Horace Dow, was first issued the license plate K2247 back in the mid 1950’s. It was a maroon plate with white letters and ] remember seeing it on his car. Grandpa Dow passed away in 1964 when I was the tender age of ten. My father, James Dow, took over Grandpa’s car and plate as my grandmother never had a license.

As I was growing up every single car or pick up truck my dad owned had that license plate. The plate changed from maroon and white, to white with green letters to the current Spirit of America plate that is white with red letters.

With my Dad’s passing, my mother, Dorothy Dow, kept

the car that had that plate K2247. She always could find her car in parking lots because the plate number was easy to remember. After she was no longer able to drive my brother, Dan Dow, decided to sell the car.I told Dan I wanted the license plate. In order to get it I had to drive from Southwick, MA to Plainville, MA to have Dan sign the registry papers. Next I had to drive to Milford, MA to reregister my car. Then on that miserable cold, rainy February day in the registry parking lot I had to take off my current plate, turn it in, and then attach the K2247 plate. Finally I had to drive home in the now freezing rain for a total of 200 miles in all.

You may be questioning the reason for go-ing through all this. I felt it was important to keep that special license plate in the family. It now holds the place of honor on my 2019 Toyota RAV 4 and every time I look at it I think of my parents and grandparents. If you are ever out and about and see that special plate K2247 that is me, wave and say hello.

PS. This past summer I met two people who had K plates on their cars. One I saw in York, ME in the parking lot at Nubble Light. The other belongs to the grandmother of Bill at the South-wick Post Office who told me she has had that plate for decades.

License plates,

Who Cares?

by Debbie Patryn

Andy later followed in her foot-steps, serving as a nurse for two years in the US Army and then 47 years at local hospitals.

Millie and her daughters viv-idly recall the August 1955 Flood. With the bridges destroyed and electricity/telephone lines down, they had no idea of the North Pond washout and the other exten-sive flood damage to the west of Great Brook. They lived on higher ground and were not catastrophi-cally impacted by streams and ponds going over their banks. Af-ter the hurricane had passed, their curiosity led them to walk along North Longyard Road north to Westfield. There at the small hill going down to the Great Brook bridge at the end of Pontoosic Road, they were astounded by the debris field that lay before them in the Little River flats– trees, parts of buildings, vehicles, drowned farm animals, and house-hold goods. It was at that moment they understood the extent of devastation that had occurred farther west in Southwick.

Later in the 1950s, Millie and Frank purchased a home not too far from the Johnson Farm. She has lived here ever since, raising her family, tending her beautiful yard, and creating many more memories. It was here we sat having our kitchen table conversa-tion.

In the mid-1960s, tragedy struck the young family with Frank’s passing. Millie quickly determined that she was not going to sit around her house moping and grieving for the rest of her life. As she relates this some 60 years later, the resolve in her voice is still profound.

There were three teen-age girls to be raised and supported. Throughout these years, Millie worked the “3 to 11” hospital shift to support her family. The girls did their part by getting their own dinner, watching out for each other, and doing household chores.

The family made time for fun! A special memory is that many a warm summer evening Millie and the girls hiked the two miles into town to eat at Friendly’s – a hot dog, a Coke, and an ice cream cone. The best Friendly’s food ever! (Friendly’s Southwick tenure ended in the late 1970s. This location is now the popular restaurant known as The Summer House operated by the Grimaldi family.)

#1 Country Music Fan

From those times when Millie first enjoyed the music at the husking bees, the seed was planted for her lifetime love of country & western music. As we talked about it, her face lit up, the memo-ries and the names came quickly. As a young woman, she attended musical shows at Babb’s Beach and perhaps other Congamond

A

Southwick

ClassicPart 2

Millie with Tammy Wynette.

venues. She recalls seeing a very young Willie Nelson, long before he gained fame as a Country star. Another Babb’s memory is Ray Price, who was both an innovator and one of the greats who pro-pelled Country music to a mass audience in the post WW II years.

Later in life, her family raised, she took her love of country music “on the road.” She attended the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville for 20 years, as well as Fan Fest in Merrimack, New Hampshire, for quite a few years. She saw many different performers including her favor-ites Tammy Wynette, George Jones, Waylan Jen-nings, Charlie Pride, Jeannie Shepard, Loretta Lynn, the Oakwood Boys, Skeeter Davis, and Tanya Tucker. These names are a “Who’s Who” among the Founding mothers and fathers of American country music, all enshrined today in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Millie not only heard them perform. She also got to meet many, sometimes getting in-vited into their homes. One of Millie’s prized possessions is a portrait with Tammy Wynette, posing like two close pals.

One time she was visiting Tom T Hall, known among Country fans as the “The Sto-ryteller.” He was showing his prized show dogs which had ap-peared in the movie Smokey and the Bandit starring Burt Reyn-olds. Somehow Millie upset the dog crate and found herself on the floor with the dogs on top of her. All she could do was laugh!

When I reflected that she was a “country music groupie,” Mil-lie just beamed and nodded her head. I asked about her current favorite stars. She quickly replied “None of them!” Having expe-rienced so many of the founding Country performers for so many years, who can blame her?

A Lifetime Love of Travel

There are also wonderful travel adventures. There is a long list in the USA: all of the New England states, New York, Mary-land, Washington, DC, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Flor-ida, the Dakotas, Wyoming, Montana, California, and some others. Somewhere in that is a memorable cross-country camping trip. In Oklahoma, she stopped on an Indian reservation where she met a family who tried to teach her some words in their language.

In the early 1990s, she enjoyed Hawaii’s beautiful scenery. She attended a luau and drank from a real coconut.

There was also a trip to Ireland to kiss the Blarney Stone.

Her most recent travel adventure was to North Dakota sev-eral years ago. Millie and Debby took a Greyhound Bus to visit her brother. There were many stops along the way. However, they had not planned on how short these stops would be, especially for getting food. They arrived in three days, hungry, tired, and aching from all that seat time. As they narrated this adventure as if they

had been young women on a cross-continent lark, it was apparent that it had gained its place in the family history of so many happy memories.

Family tragedy struck again with the loss of daughter Karen on December 20, 2021. It was and is very difficult for Millie.

By now, the special lifelong bond between Millie and her three daughters is apparent. Their love for the miss-ing Karen was shared throughout our kitchen table visit. Her presence throughout this story is intentional.

Millie’s Continuing Adventure

Millie is a lifetime card player, and pretty good from what I hear. In the past, she played mahjong. Today she still plays canasta when-ever she can find willing players.

Line dancing at the Senior Center was an-other favorite activity for many years.

Millie still actively enjoys her weekly walks with her good friend Diana, outdoors whenever the weather permits. Lunch together is a weekly treat.

Millie is enthusiastically looking forward to her 100th birthday and beyond. Here’s hop-ing for a special Southwick celebration befitting this amazing woman. Her daughters, lots of friends, some classic country music by the greats, and birthday cake, maybe even a round of canasta – that sounds about right!

I had one last question, perhaps foolish, as we wrapped up our kitchen table conversation. “Did you ever want to live some-place else? She replied, “I never wanted to leave because I never saw any place that seemed better than Southwick. Have you?”

Millie with Tom T Hall dogs

From Smokey and the Bandit.

wild. This is how they obtain everyday needs with success.

For our application, spiritual strength in the heart is the key. A true helper when adversity hits home. Symbolically, mount up on wings like eagles; and you just might run and not grow weary, To run your race in life, let us throw off everything that hinders progress and so easily entangles your true mission. Be encouraged to run or walk with patience in the race that is set before you. Ap-proach movements with caution, step by step designed for new growth.

Be that bold individual who intentionally speaks words that uplift and bring about positive outcomes. You will spark a fire in human hearts, changing how others view their lives and influencing the larger community in meaningful ways.

Exercise consistent love and you will also be blessed. Al-low me to improve this thought, by showing you the great value of that statement.. Love’s transformative power lies in its ability to reshape, not just our actions but our entire perspective on life. True love is not passive, but an active force that aligns us with what is good, pure, and true. We all know the super great feeling when genuine love embraces us. As we mature, so does love. Susanna and I have found true love - one defined by forgiveness, kindness, humility, and an unwavering commitment to seeing the best in others.

Babies whether human or animal, are excellent examples of growth. In this case, young animals are the feature. Puppies, bound with energy and exploration are captivating. and fawns are a touch more alluring. But imagine what occurs when a puppy encounters a deer in the woods? They have no hatred or violence toward each other, creating warmth in hearts when both explore, test, accept and team their abilities.

This particular puppy in my example is a male curly-haired water dog that travels the woods when moved to do so. Well, even-tually both separate and they commit their skills in aid to others in their path.

The curly head water dog was transformed into an efficient service companion for a senior woman with Parkinson’s disorders. He does it all.

That attractive deer served many lonely elders with much-needed attention from afar. That adorable female reindeer pro-motes gentle kindness to all who are also in the wilderness of life. Both service creatures gracefully aged together, with a mound of experience.

I read a passage that has created roots in my heart, let me share: “Kindness is a universal language that requires no transla-tion. It involves looking past the differences that separate us and seeing the shared humanity in each person. It’s about choosing compassion, not just when it’s easy but especially in difficult mo-ments. It’s both a skill and a mindset, something we can always improve and grow in.”

Bound by faith that God cares for you and me, Susanna and I are confident that you all will be exposed to a Bountiful New Year, full of new growth. Framed with vision, joy, and hope.