It was The Worst of Times. It was The Best of Times.

/

Alzheimer's, Stroke, Cancer and a sprinkling of depression is a  recipe for a bad year.... potentially. This was 2016. Actually, with the bad stuff came good - We are managing the memory issues without outside help. I have 85% recovered from the June 10th stroke. And, the lucky catch on Patty's malignant melanoma was eradicated with a single surgery.

Mostly, for me, it was a year filled with love and growth.....maybe, partly, as a result of the bad stuff presented. I am delighted with my increased sensitivity and feelings of love. I repeatedly, daily, express my love to Patty - not because I desperately need to be heard, but the wonderful delight in expressing my love for her - A precious time. 

Patty Stellar Christmas Eve 2016

My sister Elizabeth and daughter Bridget each spent about two months in Vermont,  far from their normal surroundings, Italy and Seattle respectively, helping during struggles as a result of my stroke. I really felt the love and am so grateful. Other family members and friends too, in varies ways, continue to express love and support. I am changed forever by the touch of your  love.

I feel all the more resolved that the  Love Priorities blog and related book I wrote: ADVOCATE PLANNING: To Do What You Love To Do, is right....right for me, to better SCG - self-realize, connect and give. Purpose. Passion. Contribution.

Great growth this year for me, despite....or maybe due to, the hardships.

I let go of my professional planning career - three years after retirement from private practice. I think it took the stroke for it to happen. I let go of trying to influence the planning community to focus on priorities planning. I ceremoniously tossed a number of books, rather than soliciting professionals to read and apply the precepts. That being said, I would not change a word in ADVOCATE PLANNING; To Do What You Love To Do, except maybe the title - I would now call it THE LOVE PRIORITIES: Your Passion and Purpose. I must have given forty copies away to various care givers  during my PT! I have a few paper copies left. I get great pleasure from giving it away, especially when I hear that it connected, one way or another. I made a PDF, free download of the book on this site, for that purpose. 

My top priority now is Patty....and that feels good. More focused - Less stressed - Purpose and Privilege. I added patience to my mantra, but the affirmation doesn't always work!

My photography, surprising to me, improved this year, even with six months of finding my legs....again, maybe because of the stroke - having to learn to walk again and appreciating the gift of mobility. My sensitivity to natural beauty is heightened.  And, thanks to VCWN (Vermont Clean Water Network), my understanding of the value and beauty of water has advanced. I, more than ever, appreciate  the ability to capture natural beauty and a feeling to hold in sight. Thank you David Pasillas and Shannon Kalahan for your mentoring to help present what I feel.

Merry Christmas to all and to all - my love and gratitude! And, may you live your love priorities in 2017....always.

I hope to see Basin of Relations: celebrating a culture of clean water in the Lake Champlain basin published in 2017. Trevien Stanger, environmentalist, editor and curator, has nearly ten writers to accompany about fifty of my images for the coffee table book. Follow it's progress at www.champlainbasinrelations.wordpress.com

Water is Wonderful - "that's for sure rain-man" Thank You