As is typical at the end of the year, I’ve read/ watched/ heard a lot this week about “starting fresh” in 2014 – and at other, more important, life-markers. This is the first year that I have noticed the theme of forgiveness as a January 1 ritual – in a TV interview with a psychologist and in several pieces I read on the Internet. I don’t subscribe to the theory that a Yom Kippur-style cleansing is needed to go from one calendar year to the next, so I’ll try to dispense with that notion and then go on to my own transition from ’13 to ’14.

My friend John Schappi’s blog post today about death and dying prompted me to go back and write down a post I thought through but couldn’t get out during my recent period of writer’s block. My brain worked overtime on this subject a few weeks ago when my mother thought she had had a stroke. I wanted to write it down and make it public because of her admonishment to me at the time – “no tubes; just remember that.”

This is a very challenging time of year for Medicare “beneficiaries” – or, “sufferers” if you want to know the truth. It’s not that I’m not happy with the benefits – I am. But making sure we are in the right prescription drug plans (PDPs) is a challenge beyond belief. And, it can be very expensive – in dollars and/or time – if we don’t choose the right plan.