Out With the Old in With the New

Each year at the turn of the year, Facebook posts seem filled with people's reflections about the year - whether it was good or bad and their hopes for the next year to be a better one.  Each year when I see people's farewell wishes to a year gone by with good riddance tacked on, I can't help but wonder what happened to them throughout the year that was so bad.

Normally for me, the end of year is filled with nostalgia, longing and hope.   Transitions are always a time where my normally bubbly self takes on a more solemn note as I turn more introspective and thoughtful.  Each year feels wonderfully fabulous to me.  I feel so blessed that I remember with fondness all that has happened and worry a little, and hope, that the next year is even better.  I feel like I may not deserve so many continuous years of such happiness and abundance in my life, which even as I write makes me realize what a crazy person I am. 

Well this year was a first for me in that I felt a freedom from the year as it ended.  It was a fabulous year.  It was filled with many blessings and opportunities.  It was filled with enormous amounts of changes and readjustments.  It was mostly happy, but it wasn't until I observed the finale that I realized there was less of the longing and more of the hope.  This year although great may have just been a dip in the happiness scale for me.

So as I consciously pondered why it wasn't a "to the moon" year, I considered more thoughtfully my life.  It didn't take me long to realize where I had hopes that this year would be better.  And it wasn't for me, although I guess it somewhat selfishly is, but it was for my husband.  His year is not what he would have wanted or wished or hoped for.  His year was fraught with more challenges and changes than most others and he wasn't necessarily as excited about those changes.  And so since he is always number one in my life, my happiness is somewhat dependent on his happiness.  And his frustrations were enough of a source of consternation to me, that I feel the need to solve those things which I know I can't.

So this year as New Year's Eve approached, our family turned to the thing we have most control over. We turned to the simple truths and priorities of our values.  They are centered around family.  So we scheduled a trip to my sister and brother-in-law's cabin.  There were there are no distractions.  Electricity is a blessing and outhouses and springs in the front yard will do.  Where the focus can be on family and bonding and love and reaffirming the ties that bind us for eternity.  It was the perfect way to start a new year of hope, re-centering ourselves on what matters most.

 

Pork and Sauerkraut for a prosperous new year - here's hoping!