So, this is New Years! Well, let me tell you how I spent my New Year's eve, and before I do, I will simply say, it was good!
My children all partied. Hey, when I was their age, so did I! I think every New Years eve, I went off, thinking this was going to be a magical evening. Something amazing was going to happen to ensure the morning began a year of Fairies and Rainbows. After more than a 1/2 century, I have finally accepted, it is not going to happen.
Folks go out to meet someone, well, I have my someone. They dress up in their finest to show the rest of the world how they can sparkle. Helloooo, we are in the deep freeze, no one in their right mind is going to go anywhere, without covering all skin up. Folks figure it is the perfect night to get rip snorting drunk. Hummmm..again, far too many celebrations in my past, I am not up to a hang over, to begin another year.
The one and only thing that upset me this New Year's eve was, my honey went back to work. I do have that tiny wish to begin each year with him. That is what is important, to start your year with the one you wish to be with all the time. Well, we brought in 2014 on the phone, so....it's almost perfect.
See, I had spent almost the whole month of December working on a huge project in the next town. My youngest and I stayed in various apartments as we cleaned them. Christmas dinner was in a random apartment, but...it was turkey and the fixings, and we were together. All month long my mind was filled with the need to get what seemed like an impossible job done. I never understood why when my man came home, all he wanted to do was stay at home. I thought he would want to go places, and get out of town. Well, I totally understand his need to slug about the house. I just wanted to get home to my own place, sleep in my own bed, and putter.
We finished our project and came home, I am content! My New Year's eve was spent getting my house in order. All the stuff we collected over the month was cluttering my kitchen and hallways. I happily cleaned for hours. I had my Tassimo, and my Lipton's chicken noodle soup, and it was awesome! I had my two dogs, who also were extremely happy to have their normal routine back. I did not watch a single New Years celebration on TV, no music was played, and I (although I did consider it for a moment)didn't swallow a drop of booze.
I did, however, spend time flicking in and out of Facebook. Hey, I read how young people are turning away from Facebook, it is not cool enough, and they don't like their parents having access to their social media. Well, so be it, leave it to the old foggies. I love it, and it is something we predicted would happen in the future, back when I was in "old school". When our friends moved away, we had no way of communicating beyond letters sent through the post office. We didn't have cell phones, and were not allowed to make those costly "long distance" calls to friends. When someone we hung out with for years had to leave town, we simply lost touch.
Last night, as I scrolled through all the wishes for the New Year, I felt all warm and fuzzy. To see all the names and faces of the many people who passed through my life growing up, was incredible. To be able to take just a moment to send them an instant message was awesome! So, to those young people who have never said goodbye to a childhood friend, and then lost touch, stop for a moment, and consider how your old parents feel to be able to touch base with the ones they lost.
I read messages from family. Hey, life is fast paced now, folks don't visit as much, they get wrapped up in their work, their bills, their problems. Everything seems to move so quickly. I remember growing up how the holidays were times our house was filled with visitors. They would stop by, sit in chairs set up in our small livingroom, on the couch, at the diningroom table, they would stay for a drink or two,and then wander off to another house. As a child this was such an exciting time for me, of course I had to stay out of the way, usually in the back bedroom with the door open, so I could be nosy and listen. I would have to help my Mom hand out the drinks (although most of them had a wee drop of my Dad's Scotch, delivered by him). In a small town, a small quiet town, this was major excitement. My brother and I had access to all the gingerale we wanted!We had goodies galore, never seen during the rest of the year. Squirt cheese was one of those holiday treats, it is also one that I have never bought myself, somehow the appeal of that stuff was lost. My holiday memories are all of family.
Last night I read many messages from families. I read a message from one of my Scottish cousins to his sister who moved to Canada decades ago. How simple was it for him to tell his sister he was thinking of her? How close to a hug was it for her to read his words? I saw pictures of my Aunty celebrating her holidays with her daughter and family, I read wishes from my nephews, and sister-in-law and my honey's aunts and uncles. No matter what young folks think of Facebook, and all the drama that occurs on a daily basis, driving me insane, and clenching my fingers to stop them from sending replies that I desperately want to type, it has it's good points.
Perhaps a typed message may seem impersonal to younger people, but, to folks of my age, the ability to let those friends and family who are utmost on my mind during this season, know I am thinking of them, is fabulous!! When I hit the send button, I do so with a sense of connection, I do it with the knowledge that someone knows they are in my thoughts at that very moment.
So...all in all, I had a pretty decent beginning to a New Year. A year that will once again be filled with friends and family, even if it is just on Facebook and Gmail. I have yet another cousin on my "friend"list, and I am thrilled to bits to have the ability to let her know she has been in my thoughts many times, although I have not seen her in 40 years. I have begun a project with one nephew searching my family roots, and we are both having a blast. I have another nephew who is going to be a father in the New Year, and a brother-in-law who is going to be a Grandfather! And I can follow along with all of this, because of the internet. I realize it has caused serious issues, and has been the instrument used to destroy lives, but, those of us who lived a long life without this source of communication...as the rest of my family calls technologically illiterate, tend to use it simply as a way to keep in touch.
So, Happy New Year to everyone out there. May your year be filled with Health, Wealth and Happiness. To my family and friends, I will once again spend this year sending random messages, when thoughts of you cross my mind. I may have a hard exterior, but, inside you are all important to me, and there is a soft spot for every single one of you. Which makes me pretty much a marshmellow...a very large marshmellow!
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