And that’s 2015.

As Mike Milligan would say – and I’ll have more to say about him and the rest of that rogues gallery soon enough – “Okay then.”

Any year that ends with you still having your life, your health, your job and home, and most of all the people you love and the people who love you, is a very good year. So I can say I’ve had a very good year indeed.

I experienced a lot of things. I accomplished a lot of things. I met great new people, and tried to better know people I’d met before. And like a passable Boswell or Watson, I did my best to chronicle all of it here.

Like any year, of course, it had its ups and downs. And there were days when I didn’t live up to the kind of person I want to be. Days when I let the stresses of life get in the way of the moment. Days when I wasn’t as together, as present as I should have been. I’ll spare the details, except to say I’m sorry for all of them.

But that’s the thing about days, about years, about moments. They end. And you get another chance to do better and be better. Time is a gift that way.

Which brings us to now.

I don’t typically make resolutions, but there’s a phrase I like to tell myself at the close of a bad day that serves the same purpose: I’ll do better tomorrow.

Well, it’s tomorrow now. Another opportunity to make things happen. Another opportunity to be a more present friend. Another opportunity to do better.

At least I’ll keep trying.

So, to everyone who was a part of my 2015, thank you. You celebrated the good and helped me through the bad, and I did my best to do the same for you. And that’s not going to change in 2016.

Let’s make today even better.