Happy New Year

By Michael J.W. Stickings

To all of you, from all of us here at The Reaction, a Happy New Year. We wish you all the best for 2009.

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On a personal note, what a year it's been.

With two small children, including a baby, time seems to pass so quickly. My youngest daughter is now over a year and a half old. Hard to believe. I remember the day she was born, and when I first held her, so clearly. My other daughter, now eight, almost seems to be a teenager already. She's growing up so fast. It's scary, in a way, and I'm just trying to take it all in.

And here we are now, still settling into our new house, now our home. I cannot possibly explain the happiness I feel when I look at my family, as I do now, at the end of 2008. I am deeply in love with my beautiful wife. I have two amazing and beautiful daughters whom I adore. I even have a beautiful cat who has been with me through so much over the years. Their happiness is my happiness. They are the wonders of my life.

As for the blog, it was our best year so far, with October and November, in terms of traffic, the best months of the blog's existence. We wrote about so much this year -- it isn't all politics all the time -- but, obviously, the big story for us was the election. This time last year I was in England, watching from afar, preparing for the primary season ahead, but mainly taking a break. Back then, I was an Edwards supporter, more or less, and undecided between Obama and Hillary. I welcomed Obama's win in Iowa, but then also Hillary's in New Hampshire. And then, over time, I grew to be an enthusiastic Obama supporter, declaring my support just before Super Tuesday. There were divisions, then, between those of us on the same side, even here at The Reaction, but we eventually made it through a long and at times bitter campaign and united again behind Obama.

What an incredibly exciting, and anxious, time it was, not so long ago, and then, on Election Day, November 4, we witnessed history. I still cannot explain how incredible that was, and what Obama's win meant to me. It was perhaps the key political moment of my adult life, and, as a blogger, the culmination of so much. I may not be a celebrity blogger, or an A-lister, and this may not be the biggest blog around, but we all worked so hard for this, giving up so much of our time, all of us blogging as a hobby, as something we love to do.

And so I look ahead to 2009 with hope that it is another great year for us, for this blog and for my co-bloggers' and contributors' blogs, but more importantly that it is a great year for us all personally, and for all of you. It is a difficult time, I know, with so much uncertainty and instability at home and around the world, but let us hope that there is significant progress towards a better future in 2009.

Happy New Year to my friends and family, including my family far away in England, to my fabulous co-bloggers, to my friends in the blogosphere, and to all of you, our readers. Be safe out there, be kind to one another, and celebrate in peace.

See you all in 2009.