Friends, There are 10 hours of 2013 left here in Minnesota and 2014 dawns soon. After tumultuous times, I have discovered the great wisdom in the statement “When a window is closed, a door opens,” and “If it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger,” (That Nietzsche fellow had a way with words.)  The door that is opening in 2014 promises to be very rewarding.

The benefits are numerous. In mid 2012,  I decided that Sima and I needed to play more tennis. I found the Reed Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis, a year round facility and we now play intensely in a league. We are actually getting better. Tennis is a superb conditioning activity so I don’t need the very boring (and expensive) gym. Pushups are the perfect exercise. We are playing in mixed doubles tournaments and leagues and loving it and, as I said, we are getting better.

In business, I am now pursuing pure business activities. I had a situation where I led a client to a team for the fourth time, and he couldn’t close, for the fourth time. I decided that was not what I wanted to do, so I stopped doing it. Now, partners and I are pursuing financial, sports equipment, league operation changes, arena/stadium operation improvements and related stuff. This is fun!!! The partners, curiously, found me, so I think the karma is right.

It is still hard to believe that it is 2014. My daughters, born in 1989 and 1992, are bemused by the fact I can speak of stuff that I saw in the 1940’s. That is until I figured out that my daughter Caroline, 21, has the same relationship with FDR that I had with James Garfield, who was shot in 1881. That was 24 presidents ago. (This is heading towards a celebration of age.) I think being older has great benefits, (not in tennis, by the way) but in the way you consider life and the obstacles that arise. Age teaches that you keep your head about you and the skies clear; the new dawn of 2014 smiles on all of us.

I am please to inform you that they, Sima, Clark III, Natalie and Caroline, are all smarter than I am, but that age allows me to continue to fool them from time to time. Some reference to the Korean War or the Truman administration, or some reference to how the South came within a few hours of winning the Civil War in 1862, usually is sufficient, or they are just being kind. Now that I think about it, that must be the case.

So, tomorrow starts 2014 and I can’t wait. Tonight, I will set the clocks ahead to Atlantic time and go to bed early. Sima and I will celebrate the evening with a lobster dinner. By the way, I made the mistake of allowing her to learn that I was a very good cook. I got that way by being my mother’s sou chef  (A sou chef actually has some authority; I had none, but I like the sound of it!) for years. (How many 12 year old boys do you know can make a meringue by hand?) So I now am the chef. As daughter Natalie told me Christmas eve, “Make dinner!!” so I produced a rack of lamb, broccoli and sweet potato fries in 25 minutes. I actually enjoy that especially now that the rule, “If you make it, you don’t clean up” which has been in force for some years and used against me for decades, is now my favorite rule. Bon Appetit!

So as I ramble through the last hours of 2013, wondering how it became 2014 so fast, and how far that is from where I started, I am blessed to be making this journey with wonderful people, and I thank God for that.