New Beginnings

Christmas Roast 2024

On December 21st, 2024, I turned forty. Four days later, I hosted dinner on Christmas day for my family, all fifteen of us. The morning was spent with my three kids. Later, my girlfriend and her daughters joined. Then my dad, aunt, and my cousin and his family.

I prepared a 11 lbs. standing rib roast with horseradish sour cream, chicken wing gravy, smoked gouda mashed potatoes, braised red cabbage with dry cherries and candied pecans, shaved carrot salad with citrus Dijon vinaigrette, and petite green peas with shitake mushrooms and dill. It’s my tendency to overdue these things. But then again, a lot has changed in a year, there is a lot to celebrate, so many new beginnings.

My first post here, then, is to honor this sentiment. After finalizing my divorce in November of 2023, Christmas Day, 2024, was a celebration of a year of new beginnings. They say redemption is a country song in reverse, and my 2024 was just that... I bought a truck, a home, and a dog, and I started dating my dream girl. Cliche, I know, but also great.

My writing and photography are not new beginnings. I have pursued these aims like Sisyphus and his rock. I have treated my gifts as burdens, a rock to push up a hill, only to have it slide back down just before the top, just before sharing the feat with others. The new beginning, then, is a new perspective, that the goal isn't reaching some imagined top where the work is done or perfect. The new beginning to to embrace the perspective that the real value of these pursuits comes in sharing with others.

My intent is to share here access to my art. I hope it provides you your own fresh perspective; a reflection of something true, deep, and real; an emotion that transmutes your heart and provides alchemy for your soul; an idea that hums in your mind like your favorite song. I hope these things for you, because what I share here, I assure you, did all these things to me first.

So, here is to new beginnings and a new year. Beginnings are always in the making. We choose what to make of them, how we let them shape our lives. I hope you fill your 2025 with beginnings that bring you meaning, peace, and joy. Happy new year.

Cheers,

Adam