My boys went to visit their mother over the just-passed holidays. They see her infrequently and this visit also included the first visit with their grandmother in about eight years. I got regular texts from each boy expressing different reactions of discomfort about the visit and tension between each other. As with much in life, things don’t go away and the emotions that were raised by this visit for them – and indirectly for me – were powerful. And, not easy. No one ever said life would be easy!

No one could ever accuse me of being too PC (politically correct). Just listen to my rant about PC lies! I’m always willing to also address the inherent differences between the sexes, in honest and frank ways. Just read my Men vs. Women blog series. Not only do I hate Valentines Day, I hate using the word, “gender” in place of “sex” when referring to men and women. Sometimes I use “gender” just to avoid the letters I’m bound to receive from the PC police, but since I’m taking on Valentine’s Day, I might as well go for it all at once.

I’ve rarely written a “look back” at the year sort of column but this past year had so much drama in it – personally and globally – that I felt it wise to do this simply for my own memories. I want to remember this year.

I have the greatest car dealer service rep around. So great that I actually get my car serviced AT the dealership which is against my religion (figuratively). We all know we pay more for service at a dealership. But, I bring my car there because I love “Mark,” my service rep.