{"id":19662,"date":"2020-01-01T00:10:26","date_gmt":"2020-01-01T05:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/?p=19662"},"modified":"2019-12-31T17:14:39","modified_gmt":"2019-12-31T22:14:39","slug":"welcome-2020-reconciling-and-embracing-past-present-and-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/welcome-2020-reconciling-and-embracing-past-present-and-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome 2020 – Reconciling and Embracing Past, Present, and Future!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I was putting away the Christmas china the other day \u2013 those mistletoe decorated plates, cups and saucers reserved for the Christmas dinner I host every year for family and friends. It hit me with a wave of nostalgia just how much life had changed as I carefully wrapped each piece in the same newspaper I\u2019d been using as protective padding for years – newspaper dated December 31, 1994 – a quarter-century old.<\/p>\n

Dinners once heavily laden with meats and starchy potatoes are now primarily vegetarian or salad based, and newspapers, once stacked high in various spots in my home are nearly non-existent with most of my news gathering done via the internet or television; the exception the weekly neighborhood news flyers that are immediately relegated to liners underneath litterboxes, not even opened to read.<\/p>\n

I miss newspapers \u2013 I miss the smell of them, the feel of them, and most especially, the comics. But even as I say that I don\u2019t have time to read them any longer, which I think is the case for many of us, hence the near demise of an institution that was once a thriving cornerstone of our great country. Not to mention, we are so impatient as a society now \u2013 our computers and phones give us instantaneous information \u2013 unlike a newspaper that has to be published and printed before it even hits our door, by which time the news has already been tweeted, posted, and shared by millions without a second thought to an industry that is nearly extinct as a result.<\/p>\n

I also find I\u2019m exhausted by the deluge of news. It\u2019s too much. Yes, years ago we still had issues with crime, various abuses, political controversy and more, but it wasn\u2019t in your face nearly 24\/7 and I must sadly admit I\u2019ve conditioned myself to relegate much of it all to background noise; rather concentrating my time on efforts devoted almost entirely to cat-related issues and endeavors.<\/p>\n

Christmas also brought other waves of nostalgia when we took out some old photo albums to reminiscence after dinner. By virtue of time, they are already old. The last photo ever taken and put into an album was from 2008 (a decidedly unglamorous photo of plastic pipes for our swimming pool pump for an outdoor renovation we were doing) with our memories now conveniently tucked on our phones, computers, and every social media site you can think of so the whole world can see a picture of Fluffy, as opposed to only those privileged to see one\u2019s photo albums.<\/p>\n

While I miss photo albums \u2013 the trips down memory lane are indisputably lovely as family members gather to discuss ancient times \u2013 I do have to admit digital photos have their upside, notwithstanding the lack of charm scrolling a computer or phone screen has versus the physical act of turning the weathered pages of a dog-eared (or cat-eared) photo album, binding spilt open and frayed, pages with yellowed corners, protective film lose; with the majority of photos unlabeled or dated, so nobody knows the who, what, where\u2019s and when\u2019s, other than through a fuzzy memory bank.<\/p>\n

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A massive wall of paper memories crowns my office – books, manuscripts, photo albums, and even some ancient CDs that have been replaced by the convenience of my Amazon Alexa.<\/p><\/div>\n

But photos back then were coveted and not something you\u2019d flippantly delete into a virtual trashcan \u2013 you took a photo and you kept it. After all, you had to pay for the film and take the time to have it developed and either mailed to you, or picked up at the drug store, not knowing what the contents would contain, but almost guaranteed to have several photos that were either blurry, had people\u2019s face\u2019s or body parts cut off, or of random non-descript blobs because you accidentally took a picture while you were trying to focus on something else. Or those great red-eye photos, or those wonderful pictures of a deer in the yard that is so hard to discern because the camera did not have a zoom, so all you see in the picture is a tiny, black fleck. It might have been a deer. Or a dog. Or Aunt Sue for that matter.<\/p>\n

So, truly, unless you were a professional photographer, which most of us like me, were not, we have albums filled with primarily awful pictures by today\u2019s standards, but still lovely to the mind\u2019s eye of memories. I do love the awful pictures, but nothing beats a digital photo. After all, you can take hundreds until you get the one you want. You can enhance them with lovely filters, turning them into spectacular works of art, eyes clear and bright, and best of all, you can Photoshop all sorts of fun things on them. My favorite subject, of course, is my cats who star daily in a parade of Photoshop assisted memes, quotes, and the like.<\/p>\n

Current photos are also a marvel of action. Post a picture for a cause or to educate or inform and it can reach millions of followers in the blink of an eye. Cats can become adopted; mass audiences can learn the importance of spay\/neuter and so much more. The good old days were good, but never that good and some things should be embraced for what they can do, rather than lament what once was.<\/p>\n

Every generation has what they initially consider new, gasp-worthy technologies, or hurdles, circumstances, or injustices to overcome. Back in the early \u201960s when I was young, my late great-grandma balked at technology, not comprehending the evil box in her living room in which people spoke from a screen. She felt it morally improper for us to watch television wearing our pajamas, convinced if we could see people on TV, they could see us back.<\/p>\n

I shudder to think of her reaction to our current world in which we can tell an object to play songs or open our garage door. Or phones that can see us when we talk to one another. I admittedly backed away when iPhones first came out, not wanting such a powerful device in my possession, but now I can\u2019t imagine living without it. Not only does it keep me connected to work responsibilities, but it keeps me connected on a nearly daily basis to my family, many of whom live far from me. We share chats, and texts, and pictures and it\u2019s such a wonderful way to feel a part of their lives.<\/p>\n

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Photo: Jazmine from Zee & Zoey’s Cat Chronicles and Makin’ Biscuits.<\/p><\/div>\n

I also didn\u2019t want to be on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or the legions of other social media sites that now seem to rule my life and I\u2019ll admit sometimes I do yearn for days back when life seemed simpler and I wasn\u2019t constantly at the beck and call of technology. But truthfully, I\u2019ve made some amazing friends as a result of social media and it\u2019s also changed my life for the betterment of cat welfare, a cause I\u2019m deeply passionate about. And I don\u2019t like to dwell on the past or coin years ago as the good old days. The good old days had plenty of bad days for me, as I\u2019m sure they did for many.<\/p>\n

I like the me of today much better than the me I was when I was younger and that\u2019s the result of embracing the world around me, challenging myself, allowing myself to be imperfect, and allowing myself the luxury of knowing the only one in control of my destiny, is me.<\/p>\n

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Time has given me the perspective of what true beauty is, something I could not comprehend when I was younger.<\/p><\/div>\n

I\u2019m also deeply grateful we live in a much more tolerant world. My son and his partner married in June of 2019 and have plans in the future to adopt. It pains me to think had he grown up in a different time that he\u2019d be outcast just for loving someone of the same sex. We\u2019re not a perfect world, but we are becoming more woke to social injustice, gender inequities, political incorrectness, racism, and more.<\/p>\n

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One of the happiest moments of my life – being part of my son Chris’s wedding to his partner, Jason, this past June.<\/p><\/div>\n

And much of the simpler times I yearn for, could be mine if I\u2019d just step back a bit because a lot of the stress of today is my own doing. It\u2019s not going to happen immediately, but I do plan on cutting back on the hectic frenzy of social media, emails, and volunteer responsibilities to concentrate and enjoy more of life around me \u2013 my friends, my family, potential grandchildren, my cats, some gardening, outdoor walks, some crafting projects, and just the simple pleasures of doing nothing other than reading a newspaper with a cat curled on my lap. Maybe write another book one of these days, but nothing pressing. I might even venture outside my comfort zone and meet some of my actual neighbors and socialize with them, rather than primarly socializing with people in cyberspace like I do now. <\/p>\n

As another year descends on us, bright with possibilities anew, one thing never changes as time passes \u2013 life is fleeting, and nothing should be taken for granted. We have but one life, and as Joel Osteen said, \u201cDon\u2019t focus on the good old days, look forward towards the good NEW days.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Zee is our senior cat, but even to this day, he looks at life with a spring to his step and joy in the moment.<\/p><\/div>\n

Happy New Year everyone! Thank you all for your love, support, and companionship over the years! I wish you all the best and look forward to all we have in store in the days to come and remember, you can think of life lived in terms of one day, or as I prefer, day one. It’s up to you…<\/p>\n

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Photo: Shadow from Zee & Zoey’s Cat Chronicles<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was putting away the Christmas china the other day \u2013 those mistletoe decorated plates, cups and saucers reserved for the Christmas dinner I host every year for family and friends. It hit me with a wave of nostalgia just how much life had changed as I carefully wrapped each piece in the same newspaper […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1124,3,1099],"tags":[1398,1399,748,626],"class_list":["post-19662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cat-events","category-inspiration-healing","category-the-zee-zoey-cats-and-family","tag-1398","tag-embracing-change","tag-life","tag-reflection"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/newspaper-94-copy-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19662"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19677,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19662\/revisions\/19677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}