Letter to 2016

Dear 2016,

It's been a tough go, hasn't it? You really didn't make it easy for yourself, which I sort of respect, but you've taken a lot of flak from a lot of people, mostly Democrats and pop culture fans. To be fair, they aren't wrong. I mean, damn. You took Ziggy Stardust, Professor Snape, Princess Leia, Admiral Ackbar and R2-D2. You gave us President Trump, the Holocene Extinction and Pen Pineapple Apple Pen. People were bound to talk.

In light of this, you really can't blame us for drafting plans to transfer Betty White and the last of the manatees to a bunker in the Cheyenne Mountains, and star-gating the whole mess to a safe and distant corner of the universe.

But that's not why I'm here. I'm not here to sling mud and point fingers or to shrug and say fuck it and light some tires on fire. I'm here to celebrate you, 2016. I'm here to give thanks. Despite all of the many irreplaceable things that were taken and in spite of the many disturbing things that have been given, 2016 was still a pretty great year. 

An okay year. 

Oh, thank goodness it's over.

So.

Thank you for reminding us, repeatedly, that life is fragile and finite, a thing to be treasured. It seems hard to think of a world without our favourite people in it, whether it's our heroes, our loved ones, or my sweet Jesse girl. Nothing focuses our attention on the things in our lives that we love as effectively as loss. Nothing will ease the sting of their absence but time.

On the topic of stinging, thank you for Sriracha, the number one food trend of the year, and for Tums.

Thank you for the fading trend that is the Man Bun. It's been hilarious. Now stop it. Ditto on the gym selfie, the bathtub selfie, the just chillin' selfie, all the other kinds of selfies, Instagram photos of artfully lit and carefully grouped possessions, the "nofilter" hashtag, and the selfie stick. Please. People. Know that you are valued and loved by someone, probably lots of someones. Now just...just go read a book to a senior, or mow a neighbour's lawn. Do something genuinely "likeable". And then don't tell anyone you did it. You'll feel better than that time you got 38 likes for posting a picture of your sunglasses and an eos lip balm on a beach towel #lovethebeach #butnotenoughtotakeapictureofthebeach.

I've lost the thread, but obviously hit a nerve. Where was I? Right.

Lastly, thank you for the discovery of a ninth planet (not Pluto, get over it) in our solar system, for Earth's second moon (we have a second moon!) and for the scientists, stars and heroes of the next generation who won't stop creating and exploring, who will never give up.