A Debt–OR–My Annual Holiday Note

Every year I write a letter to my friends and acquaintances to show my appreciate for their being around. Since you’re here, and are reading, you must care to some passing degree as well, so I offer this note to you also, whomever you are.

I owe you a debt.

I owe it and it’s time to repay.

Ah, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.

You see, as we go through our lives it is the small moments, the breath we hold before something amazing happens, or breath we let out as we jump into something without looking, that defines who we are. It is the small moments, the seemingly insignificant moments that tie the tapestry of our lives together. It is within these moments that possibility, hope, love, passion, all the good things live. It’s only when we over think things, and only when we let the enormity of life weigh too heavy on our backs that we begin to see the shadows instead of the light. It is only through the moments that magic lives.

And to find people to share your life with is nothing but pure, unadulterated magic.

Magic exists, and I have proof.

My proof is you.

Of all the people in all the world we have come to know one another and were, and are in one another’s lives. Some how, some way we came to mean something to one another and have become part of one another’s life. Even if ours is a passing friendship the fact that you got this and that you are reading this means that we have affected one another in some way. It means we care. The glory of life is that, amidst the pain, doubt, and misery there are people who care more about us than we know, and who sometimes want better for us than we even want for ourselves.

This year has brought all of us pain, loss, heartache, doubt, and more moments of sorrow than any of us need or deserve but between those trials there have been those moments where the people we loved and care for were there for us and made sure we knew it. There were the times when someone took our hand, or our heart, and they were there when we needed them most. It would be great if we could always be there for one another, if our lives afforded us the luxury of the time and ability to always be there but that isn’t how this life is built, and we do our best, and it’s enough. It is enough that, at least for me, you are there at all. We don’t always do the right thing, the best thing, the smart thing, but it’s the people around us that let us know that even in our failures we’re good enough. We’re beautiful.

We are greater than we think, wiser than we know, and we have more to offer the world than we can imagine. This is the beginning. This is always the beginning and there is always room for change.

Why?

Because you are here.

I am here.

We are here.

And together we can change ourselves.

We can change the world.

The hell of life is that we will always want what we cannot have, love what we cannot keep, and lose that which we hold most dear but for now we are together, and while we are together we are not alone. Together we can be strng.

I lost someone dear to me this year and their loss still hangs about me but the love of my friends made that loss easier, as did the memory of having had this person in my life for a time. And I owe my lost friend just as I owe you.

I owe you for the love, the friendship, the trust, and the understanding you have given me over the time we have known one another. Without your help I wouldn’t be the person I am, or have done the things I have. Without the inspiration of some people who I love dearly I may never have found the world of the Meep Sheep, Bloo Moos, Bumble Kitties, or the other creatures and characters that fill out this year’s release of The Meep Sheep.

I owe you, each and every one of you for standing with me for this stretch of the road. I know all of us won’t be in one another’s lives for the duration but that you are here now, and have been in my life and affected me and who I am is all that matters. Your fingerprints are forever on my heart.

For today, for this past year, and for as long as you have been and are in my life I thank you. I know for many of us this has been a trying year, one that defined some of us and which for others made us question who we are. All I can say is that this is but one year of many and there is always time for change, for hope, and for new beginnings.

Here is to you, my friend, and to the year that was and that has yet to come. And here is to all that has held us back and pushes us on, for these are the things that make us who we are. It is only by struggle that we are defined and only by overcoming struggle can we ascend.

Friend, I owe you a debt, and I hope than in at least small ways I repay that debt every day.

Thank you.

Chris Arrrrrrrrr