Edward Caissie

Life has a really funny way of making a wake-up call and these unexpected events as the world makes another run around Sol are none too fun to be involved in.

Today, last night, or a little over a week ago, I have been written into an awful country music song. The haves and the have-nots are not things I would wish anyone to start a new year with their run around the sun. I lost my job (which I truly loved), I lost my dog (a heart-breaking event), and my wife just found out she has cancer (which I am not too optimistic about).

Some say 2024 was a bad year, but I didn’t. I know it was not a good year for many, but I felt very fortunate to have worked for a good company and managed a good team that accomplished many good things and managed to push forward with limited resources.

So, 2025, what’s next?

I will be able to grow and expand my network and documentarian skills. I enjoy writing and moving technical details into lay terminology, which has been surprisingly satisfying. I look forward to more of this in the future. I’d even enjoy freelancing this some.

Sammy, our dog, was suffering from congestive heart failure. We tried, or better yet, we took him to the best veterinarians to hopefully give him a chance at a more comfortable quality of life. We were gifted with a few days, but Sammy was too ill. We made the very difficult decision to let him go to the Rainbow Bridge and asked him to wait there with all our other past family members of the four-footed variety.

We added another little fur-foot, Hennessy, a mini Dachshund, a few days before Christmas. Sammy and Hennessy were bonding well, but only as an elder would pass their blessing to a new arrival in the pack. It took a few days, some during Sammy’s last days, but Sammy was gathering a definite peace while he could.

My calendar is now clear. I am hopeful we will be presented with some options to address my wife’s cancer and provide her with a quality of life to move forward with. I have the time right now, so as bad as this news is, and as selfish a thought as it might be, I have the time to be with her, and after more than 30 years together, I will not leave her to endure this alone.

Every year, many people take the time to reflect on the past year and make resolutions for the new year. Since I start my revolution around the Sun, which is so close to the New Year, I usually take the two weeks before my birthday to reflect on the past year and consider the next. I’m still in shock, or disbelief or however you would like to describe my current state of mind. Somethings are blatantly obvious and somethings are simply too nebulous to grasp clearly, but we will carry on.

I will carry on.

Last I wrote I was making a public statement about moving away from WordPress… well, that’s still mostly true. I’m not actively working within or around the community although I am still working with the platform all the same.

Now, that being said, if you really want to find me have a look at Auctria.com a wonderful Canadian company providing “an easy to use, powerful tool to run your fundraising auction.”

If the above sounds like an endorsement, don’t fool yourself… it really is!

I’ve been here a while and just thought it would a good time to say, I’ve been so happy to go to work every day that I just simply let other things slide a little bit (like posting here… and elsewhere). Being happy at work has been spilling over to other aspects of my life and letting me see and take different approaches allowing me to enjoy some odd hobbies, and start some new ones, too (more to follow on this at a later date).

So, if you are looking for me, why not find a worthy cause to help raise some funds and take a look at Auctria.com as one of your resources to do so… and if you run into any questions or concerns, I’ll be there to help you get them sorted out and addressed with the rest of the Auctria team.

Sometimes you just have to take a step back and have a look at what you’re doing to get a real sense of where you are and where you want to be.

Am I happy? This truly fundamental question should be asked and more importantly honestly answered. Ultimately the answer is simply yes or no.

If you can honestly tell yourself, in an unfaltering voice, yes then you should count yourself blessed.

If you cannot answer with a resounding yes then it begs the question: why not? Which leads to more questions often times revolving around what needs to change to make your life happier. What needs to happen to answer that question, am I happy, with a steadfast yes?

The reality of the question really comes down to what makes you happy and how many of those things have to be met for you to say you are happy?

Do I have the answers to this? No… well, not really.

I have some thoughts on this but really when it comes down to it there are only a few significant items on my list:

• Healthy family
• Quality work-life balance
• A challenging healthy work environment
• Comfortably meeting all financial obligations
• … and living in interesting times