1/10/25 - Friday Forget-Me-Nots by Jim Silcott

Photo Caption: Father Peter Gideon

Dear Our Lady of Peace Family,

When I was a kid, I used to think about what New Year’s Eve, 1999 would look like for me. For some reason I figured that I would be rich and living in New York City. As the clock struck midnight for the start of a new millennium, I would be toasting family and friends on a balcony, dressed in a tuxedo. 

The reality of New Year’s Eve 1999 was very different. I was in my home in Clintonville watching pay-per-view wrestling on cable tv with my son, Braden and my nephew, Chris. I was drinking Diet Pepsi, and while I don’t remember what I was wearing, it was certainly not a tuxedo. I don’t remember where my daughters were. Lauren was a senior in high school and Bethany was a sophomore. I was divorced. 

As we moved into the year 2000 that evening, I didn’t have time to contemplate the following months let alone what my life would be like 25 years later. I was too busy trying to live moment to moment in the present. 

But here we are. As someone born just over the halfway point of the twentieth century, it is a little discomforting to know that a quarter of the twenty-first century has passed already. Although in these last 25 years I have seen my share of tragedy as has the world, I personally have been blessed. I am happily married and have acquired another son and nine grandchildren. My health has been pretty good as I approach my 70th year and I have many friends as well as family whom I know I can count on and who know they can count on me. I still get a kick working in education as a teacher and principal. 

Some things for me have not changed in these years. I am still a school principal. As a kid dreaming about cocktails on the balcony, the notion that I would be running a school never entered my brain. I still like to read, and I still enjoy writing. I continue to be obsessed with bicycle riding. I continue to drive manual transmission cars. Most importantly, I still find richness and meaning in my relationship with God through my Catholic faith. 

I don’t have much more time than I did in 2000 to think ahead to my future, but my age necessitates planning for it. My wife and I live in a ranch home. We have wills and an estate trust (although I don’t consider our modest home an estate!). Each month we pay into a long-term disability plan to assist us with the care we may need in the future. 

When we reach the halfway point of the twenty first century, I may have long passed on from life, or God willin’ and the creek don’t rise, I will be 93 years old in 2050. If I am graced with that many more years I hope that I am still surrounded by family, perhaps great grandchildren, and that I am still reading, and writing. By that time they may have taken my car keys away from me as well as my bicycle, but one never knows. I can say here and now however, that I will no longer be a principal. Being 88 years older than a kindergarten student would be too daunting a task for me and for the student. 



No matter how many more New Year’s Eves I get to experience I hope that God will continue to show me what I can do, however large or small, to held build His kingdom. In the end, it may simply be a brick or two in the back corner, but each piece is important and each of us is equally important. 

Jim Silcott