It is not possible that 2023 is almost done. We know that time does not fly and that this feeling is just an illusion of our age, but the year seems to have passed at warp speed. Perhaps it is because we, as humans, are always looking forward to upcoming things and to change. They become markers in the upcoming year and in our lives. We go from one anticipated event to another, and before we know it, the years have slipped away.
The New Year is a marker in our lives. It is an official ending and beginning, and we seem to need those things in our lives; some kind of order. We need to know when to start, when to quit, how many and how few. At the New Year many of us get the urge to change things. We get revved up with the prospect of new beginnings and so become determined, usually for a short time, to change in some way.
A lot of folks resolve to lose weight, quit smoking, or become more physically fit. We resolve that this will be the year that we really clean out the garage, the basement, or the closets. We resolve to be more caring, giving, thrifty, ecological, civic minded, read more, whine less, and learn to do a myriad of things from knitting to changing oil. We are, if nothing else, ambitious in our resolutions, and if the year passes and we’ve lived up to just one, we are pleased.
I learned a few things about resolutions a long time ago. The first was that making a resolution, and sticking to it are two totally different things. A resolution must be accompanied by determination and the desire to truly want to change. Simply, one has to truly ‘gotta wanna’. The best resolution I ever made was not to make resolutions at all. It has been the easiest one I ever attempted. January has become a lot simpler.
The year 2023 was all in all, a good one for us. We are still here, warm and well, and still basking in the glow of the holidays with our family. That feeling will never leave us.
Soon enough we will be into the rhythm of the newest year. In 2024 we will be looking to the big things, and the small ones. They are indeed the rhythm or our lives. January will bring us a new daughter-in-law, and our granddaughters will sprinkle the year with two more great-grands. What better things to look forward to than the growth of our family.
We’re also looking forward to the seasons ahead and the joys they bring. As time passes faster than ever, we look to enjoy the total eclipse in April, hunting mushrooms, fresh tomatoes from the garden, July 4th, meteor showers and before we know it, Christmas again. Along the way there will be the comfort of birthdays, anniversaries and the rhythm of the seasons. The years’ holidays will come around in turn, and in between we’ll fill our lives with the spackle of living the best lives we can.
We’re ready to get on with the Newest Year. May it be a good one for us All. And good luck with those resolutions, should you decide to go there.
We wish you all a Safe, Sane and Happy Newest Year! Peace from the Newest Pines.