I’ve been more thoughtful over this new year’s holiday  than most.  I don’t usually make resolutions, or even dwell much in the past, but the passing of this last year feels different somehow.

2009 will likely be the year I let go a lot of the work I do in the AIDS movement. Fifteen years feels enough, but more importantly, it’s really time that younger folks stepped up to the plate.  How can I speak for twenty-year olds?  True, there is one area I could take on; there is, after all, a sore need for HIV ageing issues to have a voice.  (They largely go un-noticed, despite what I suspect will be their rapidly escalating importance for many.  And I’m sure that I could write piles about the special stigma of those being diagnozed with HIV late in life - and boy, is that happening.  But not today.)

Moving on, this image isn’t meant to depict “Six Feet Under“.   It’s actually a photo I took of a field I keep an eye on, not far from where I live.  Observing nature is inextricably linked with the passing of time.  But this one speaks to me of  the future, bright and shiny and optimistic - and much less obsessed with all-things HIV than I am now.

But come what may, I will likely still be addressing HIV stigma in some fashion for years to come.  There are many ways to do so without shouting about it from the tree-tops.  Living a normal life, out and proud about our status, is a good one, I think.