As we head into 2021, there are 2 things I really want to focus on.

1.  Procrastinate less.  
2. Write more.

Well, as I start my new year’s essay, I’m batting .500.

Something I started doing at the end of 2020 was sharing pictures from an old box of photos.

It is a random box of pictures that I got from my sisters when they cleaned out my parents’ house.

People seemed to really like them, so I’d like to continue sharing them.

That brings us to today picture from an old box of pictures, and what it has to do with starting 2021.

The picture is my favorite picture of my son Joe.  He was 3 or 4 years old and had come out to the orchard where we were picking apples.

Even when he was little, Joe has always amazed me with the tenacity and willingness to take on any challenge.

In this case, he was going to pick apples just like his papa.   He had on his overalls and his hat, all he needed was a picking bag and some trees full of apples.   Didn’t matter that the picking bag was as big as he was or the apples were way over his head or that he had no idea how to pick apples.  

HE was going to pick apples.

As he grew into a young man, I’ve seen this play out lots of times, just with different challenges.

Riding a bike, rock climbing, jumping off a dock when he was little. 

When he was a teen, he tried new things, worked hard at school, ran cross county.  Heck his first trip on a plane was the French club trip to France.

As a young adult, he has faced all the challenges that people his age face, plus a lot more, and he keeps on pushing ahead, not sure of how things will go, but sure that he’s going to take them on.

When I would worry about him, as dads do, I would look at that picture.

You’re asking, “What can we learn from a picture of a 4-year-old with an apple picking bag?”

What can it possibly teach us about a new year, after a year that many consider to be the most difficult in our recent history?

Might I propose, a lot.

As we move into a new year, after all we have been through, I think we should go forward with the confidence of that 4-year-old.

It’s still going to be hard, there are going to be lot of challenges.   People are still getting sick, others have lost their jobs and businesses.   Some of our neighbors are really hurting, we need to do what we can to help them.  There is going to be plenty of arguments and debates we will have to work through. I have no idea how it will all go.

But the apples need to be picked.

We can’t let them hit the ground and rot.

So, buckle up your overalls, put your hat on straight.

Shoulder that picking bag, and let’s get to work.

Here’s to a new year, may it be better than the last one.