Ah, it is cliché that I should have a slightly different view of things after my father's heart surgery, and especially as we greet a new year. I haven't recorded my thoughts here because it has all been said before. Plus, until you live something, you don't understand it. Likewise, the more you know, the more you know you don't understand. Yes, cliché.

There have been many things that happened in 2010 that alter the way I look at things now.

But something surprised me a few nights ago in the midst of my pseudo-philosophical nostalgic reflection. I re-read a book that I had loved back in the seventh grade, and had revisited in college. In fact, in college I ended up gathering up as many books by the same author as I could. While I was certainly more "mature" in college than I was in 7th grade, my perception of the book was pretty similar when I read it during those two times of my life.

Three days ago, I re-read it. And I caught many things that I hadn't before. Even more shocking was how when I read the sequel, the subject matter that I had considered "interesting but not nearly as cool as that of the first book" suddenly became uncomfortable. Suddenly some of the themes hit too close to home. What was merely entertainment many years ago is now a raw portrait of things I've experienced.

Thankfully I have plenty of trivial things that are still trivial, and I promise I won't take myself too seriously in 2011!