Not Another New Year-Already?

Wow!  Can you believe it?  Not another new year already.  Didn't 2011 just get here?

Alas, the passing of time trumps all our wishes of holding onto cherished memories and people, too.  That trite but  true axiom is particularly poignant to me this year, as we will be spending more of our time in Florida and less in St. Louis, which is home.

While this decision was about ten years in the making, I find myself approaching it with two minds, as the ancient Greeks were fond of saying. 

 The anticipation of spending more time in the Tampa Bay area is, for us, undeniably appealing.  And being right in the heart of a city again suits us after years living in the heart of London.  Our beach condo also is and will continue to be a respite from that very city as well.

Tampa Skyline at Night

Sounds like a fantastic plan, right?  It would be except for that pesky "other mind" insinuating itself into the place where true and highly valued friends are. 

Good friends and cherished relatives.  That is decidedly the downside of such a decision.  Yes, of course, we will be back frequently, but it cannot be exactly the same ever again.  There is an invisible chasm, a pulling ever so slightly away, and that's the truth of it. 

What is one to do?  I don't know the answer to that question.  I only know what probably will happen from our experiences in other times and other places.  Those friends who have been so cherished will remain so no matter how far away we are in distance.  We will continue exactly where we left off in a previous time.  And with some others, not so much.  The human experience, after all...

So, off we go to Tampa.  New experiences.  New friends.  New milieu.  And old and dear friends and family never forgotten, never not concerned about and never devalued.  It is the fabric of life in this modern world.

Happy New Year, Dear Readers.  I wish you all the very best of everything in this coming year.