Half and Half

The year is half over. Six months gone. Are you a proponent of the glass half-empty/half-full view of life? Do you see the last six months as having gotten away from you, or have you filled them with joy and meaningful experiences? Do you reach the half-way point in a panic, or do you think, "there's still time to make a difference?"

July 1st is my husband's birthday, a time for family celebrations. It's also his beloved brother's birthday, who died much too young, so it's a day tinged with memories and sadness. Like it or not, this day will always hold both joy and sorrow.

And what about locally? Where are we, at the half-way point of the calendar year?

We lost another local journalist yesterday--the multi-talented Jon Sham. He's leaving us for the Baltimore Sun newsroom. I'm having a glass half empty feeling about this one. We need real, honest-to-goodness journalists to research and cover our local stories. Think of how much amazing stuff our local reporters turned up when they shed their light on Bree Newsome. We need them. And we need them to stay.

In the County we appear to be growing a lot of task forces. It is unclear to me what kind of a crop they are growing or whether they will be knee-high by the Fourth of July. So the jury's still out on that one. Fruits of their labors--I'll wait and see.

The CA Board recently had a work session in which it was clear that they were struggling to make nice behave and do business professionally. Should we give points for trying? Is this any different than other years on the CA Board?

The Howard County Board of Education recently held a Board Retreat where one member got up and read a list of accusations against a fellow Board member. I don't think this was even remotely on the agenda, but does it surprise you? smh.

Well, this isn't going as well as I had hoped. But it's still my husband's birthday, and we're celebrating by going to Falls Church where his choir from River Hill High School is performing along with the Icelandic choir ÁRSTÍÐIR. I am pretty sure that our glass will be filled to overflowing after that.

I am sorry this post is so long. (If I had the time, I would have written a shorter one.) Feel free to tell me what your plans are for the second half of the year in the comments section. Do you feel pessimistic? Optimistic?

What does your glass look like today?