Opinion

The start of a new year always brings a pause. A moment to take a breath, look ahead and think intentionally about what comes next. After the rush of the holidays and the full calendar of December, January often feels quieter. The pace slows and the noise fades a bit. But quiet does not mean still. More often, it is where clarity begins.

Some people truly enjoy cold weather and they are entitled to their opinion. However, for many others, myself included, the ongoing cold spell in Missouri feels less like a natural seasonal change and more like a disruption to everyday life.

Some people move through Christmas with an ease that feels almost unreal. The season starts and they seem to fall into it without hesitation, as if the decorating and planning and celebrating come with instructions the rest of us never received. From a distance, it all looks effortless. Up close, most families know that this time of year rarely moves that smoothly.

Some weeks move in a blur of responsibilities, long days and quiet pressure. You handle the things that must be done and keep going because that is what life expects from most of us. Work does not slow down when you need it to. Families do not pause their needs. The world keeps its rhythm whether you feel ready or not and staying steady becomes its own kind of effort.

It starts with the sound of a crying baby. A woman’s voice trembles as she tells whoever answers the phone that her newborn hasn’t eaten since last night.

Family is the thread that stitches our lives into something meaningful even when those stitches aren’t always neat or perfect. If there’s anything this past year has taught me, it’s that time with the people we love is the most sacred currency we’ll ever hold. Once it’s spent, it’s gone. No rewrites. No do-overs. Only the memories we carry forward. Like most families, mine has its disagreements. Although some are small and some last longer than they should, when I sit at the table and look at my mother, the woman whose hands have held generations together, I’mreminded every ordinary moment is extraordinary. Every laugh, shared meal and story told for the 100th time becomes a gem we don’t realize we’re polishing until years later.

Some people move through the world with minds that sit quietly in the background. They hear a phrase like “imagine an apple” and nothing happens. No picture, color or scene. Just a blank page. When that discovery made its way across social media a while back, it created an entire wave of confusion. People with lively inner worlds could not understand how anyone could simply not picture things, while people with aphantasia were shocked that others lived with nonstop mental movies.

The Richmond News, Nov. 28, 2025 Ruby Jean Watkins (nee Hagy) passed away peacefully Saturday, Nov.

It starts with the sound of a crying baby. A woman’s voice trembles as she tells whoever answers the phone that her newborn hasn’t eaten since last night.