Another Beautiful Day in the Ozarks!

For today's Thursdays are for thanksgiving post I am thankful for a close to 2015!
It was a good year to be John Hill!

Aaron and Jenny arrived last night and tomorrow Hannah and Daniel will be back from their holiday travels to visit his family. Some time on January 1st, all my babies will be here, with us.
All-in-all, a fine way to begin 2016.

Last year I managed a couple of trips to Chicago and took in the UFC Chicago Fights with Aaron and a Cubs game with Jenny. Chris and I returned to Zihautanejo/Ixtapa in September and had a great week doing nothing but relaxing on the beach. I managed several nights at the local ballpark watching the Cardinals' double A team and went to a game in St. Louis as well. It's been nice having Hannah in Springfield and we've had a couple of dinners with her and Daniel at their place and a few at our house as well.

Today is a beautiful, sunny day with temperatures more like one would expect for December 31st -- upper 20s this morning with an expected high of around 40. Sounds like good weather to check out my new motorcycling gloves!

As of today, I have been retired for eleven months. Next month, I will spend the last week of my first year of retirement on a beach in Mexico. That's a pretty good plan!

When we return, I'll get serious about shopping for a bigger motorcycle to take on a few road trips during 2016. I'm thinking St. Louis for a ballgame or two (with a side trip to Ted Drewe's to meet up with Mike), central Illinois to see my parents, OKC to visit my sister and her family and maybe as far as Chicago to see Aaron and Jenny. One brother and his family also live in the Chicago area and I may make it to Indianapolis to visit my other sister and her family. I'm just thinking out loud about traveling on the road via motorcycle right now. I don't even know if I'm really going to like the long rides, yet. As well as needing to find time for the travel, the trips will all be solo as Chris says she's not up for that at all.

We have June wedding plans for Hannah and Daniel and are hoping that many of our family members will be able to celebrate with us. Although we don't expect everyone to be able to make it, we are looking forward to celebrating with the ones that can.

This is my 173rd post of the year and sets a personal record for the most posts in a year since I started blogging. I don't know if my writing will be more or less consistent in 2016, but it seems to have taken a different tone than in the beginning. As John has evolved and gotten a bit more mellow, so has Out of My Hat. I've noticed that posts are more about what is going on in the life of John and less about relevant topics in the current news cycle. Somewhere along the way I realized that since I really don't care what most people think about any given subject, most people probably don't care what I think, either.

Now, I pretty much just tell my story. I share my opinions less and listen to the opinions of others less. I still like to learn and will listen to those that are able to articulate their thoughts and present a reasonable case for their opinions. Although I still strive to be a decent human being, I care less about what most people might think of me. I think the saying, "What other people think of you is none of your business," is a good one to follow.

Of course, there are people that I respect a great deal and their opinions matter to me. There are people that I wouldn't want to disappoint and I do care what they think of me. But in the end, we have to be true to ourselves.

I wish all of you well in the coming year. Thank you for stopping by and spending some of your day at Out of My Hat. Please visit often in the coming year and leave a comment on occasion.

Blessings,
John <><