My Dear Readers,

This is not the post I thought I would write for my first blog post of 2025. 

I imagined I would write something reflective about last year, and something hopeful and promising for the new year.

Instead, I’m going to keep it short and sweet and celebrate the fact there is a blog post today. I wasn’t sure I would get this post written and published, which would have meant that for the first time in more than a decade, I would have missed writing a weekly blog post. 

Thankfully that didn’t happen.

Friends, since Friday, December 27th, I have been in bed, sick with a nasty flu (though we all got flu shots back in September). As my doctor said, having an autoimmune disease makes other health issues — including this “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad” flu — more complicated, and it affects my body somewhat differently. 

The good news is I’m slowly getting better.

So as we turn the calendar on a new year, I wish for you some of the simple pleasures that have meant so much to me these last several days — a comfortable bed, a warm home, support and love from those closest to you, and the hope that tomorrow will be even better.

Happy New Year, friends!