Letters to the President: #682 'A quiet night'

Tom Foreman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent

Reporter's Note: Every single day since Barack Obama took office I have written a letter to him. As you can see, that’s a lot of letters…

Dear Mr. President,

It is late as I write this and I am feeling oddly melancholy. Not sure why. I have been running a good bit more than usual and I’ve dramatically cut back on caffeine lately, so maybe I’m just dealing with the initial fatigue that comes from such a change. But who knows?

We’ve been working relentlessly on our All the Best, All the Worst of 2010 show and it is looking pretty good. We’re going with a diner theme and the graphics are excellent. (We TV folks get worked up over such things. Mention ‘fonts’ and we can go on for hours!) Our panelists are smart, and I’m happy with the script I’ve written. Or maybe I should say “the script I am writing.” These things are always a work in process.

Maybe that too is part of what’s making my mood, now that I think of it. While I am an optimistic guy and enjoy thinking back over the big stories in the course of a year, there is also something a little sad about it.

It makes me much more sharply aware of the passage of time. It reminds me that I, my family, my friends, and the dog are all getting older. (Of course, people I don’t even like are also getting older, so I guess that is some consolation. Ha!)

But more than that, I find myself looking back on events and pondering all the “what if?”s. What if all your hopes for change had played out? What if the economy had bounced back better? What if world tensions had eased? What if Gilligan’s Island were still on the air? What if I could dance…I mean, really dance? What if…what if…

I won’t dwell on it long, I can assure you. There is no advantage to fretting endlessly about where one is in life or where one has been, because we can’t really do much about that. We can only face the future. So I hope you’ll indulge me tonight, and I’ll return the favor if you have a little down time some day soon. But if you hear me moping around tomorrow, give me a quick kick.

Anyway, hope all is well in White House land. Give a ring if you’d like a cup of coffee and we’ll find a place.

Regards,
Tom

Follow Tom on Twitter @tomforemancnn.

Find more of the Foreman Letters here.