If you have children 12 years old or younger, chances are you’ve seen the hit Disney movie “Frozen” about a gazillion times, and rightfully so. It’s quite possibly the best kid’s movie of all time.
Not just because the movie features Olaf, an adorable snowman whose singing and dancing ranks right up there with Fred Astaire, but because all the music is infectious. This is especially true of the message and lyrics of the Oscar-winning song, “Let it go.”
Looking back and lamenting at the many things that didn’t quite go right during 2014, The Wife keeps singing to me, “Let it go, let it go.”
It’s like asking Little One, who just turned 18 months old, to let go of something she’s not supposed to have–doing so is easier said than done. Let’s take a quick look at some of the things that have gone awry to yours truly over the past year.
First up is the stock market. Or should I say first down, up, sideways, and then next week back down again? After many months of hard work, I’ve developed a unique investment strategy, one that I’ll share with you now. I do painstaking research on a company, then instead of buying stock low and selling high, I buy low and wait for the market to crash. Then I get scared that it will never go back up and sell for a huge loss. Usually the market recovers within a week after the sell.
This strategy doesn’t make any money, but at least I have a great write-off at the end of the year. I’ll be happy to offer my investment strategy to any stockbroker who calls – for a small fee, of course. Gotta recoup all those losses somehow.
The next thing I can’t let go of is the weather. Yep, back towards the end of summer I replanted the garden with six different kinds of lettuces. After months of care, it was finally time reap the benefits of all the hard work — just as the temperature took a dive well below freezing. Yep, had to harvest the entire crop in one day.
But at least the neighbors enjoyed all-you-can-eat salad for a week.
Weather also was the reason why, back in May, I locked in gas rates for heating our house. That was the month before prices started their free fall.
Now gas has plummeted to half the cost of what it was. Hard to let this one go when I’m gonna pay for it long into next year.
The final oops for 2014 is the biggest — not listening to The Wife. After over 15 years, you’d think I’d learn this one. Back in April, she was leaving for work and told me to be careful.
I made the silly remark, “How can I get hurt? I’m just babysitting our granddaughters.”
Sure enough, that afternoon I was holding Sweet Caroline and trying to rock her to sleep when the doorbell rang. I got up, turned, tripped over the cat, and quickly grabbed a post to keep from falling.
A month later I was rewarded for my heroic feat not squishing the baby with a shoulder operation. Looking back, I probably could let that one go – just as soon as my shoulder stops hurting from the rehab three times a week.
So after all the looking back at 2014, I’ve decided to follow the song and The Wife’s wise advice to “Let it go, let it go. The past is in the past.”
The past is a great place to keep all those mistakes from last year. After all, no one ever goes forward looking backwards. (Unless, of course, you spend most everyday writing about growing up on a certain street a long, long time ago, but not so far away.)
From all the kids on Flamingo Street, The Wife, The Boy, and me, here’s wishing a wish for you to let it go. And have a happy and healthy New Year.
[Rick Ryckeley, who lives in Senoia, served as a firefighter for more than two decades and has been a weekly columnist since 2001. His email is storiesbyrick@gmail.com. His books are available at www.RickRyckeley.com.]
