1.01.2011

The Eleven: Date with a Day

Ah New Year’s Day, I greet you with a hail and hearty hello. You and I have quite a history, don’t we – going back many many years.

When I was a wee lass, you were a fun day when I got to set off poppers and blow horns my parents brought home from their New Year’s Eve outing. I don’t remember ever seeing your genesis, though goodness knows I tried. Sleep was a bigger foe to conquer than my nana, who would let me get away with anything… shhhhhh.

You did, in those days, come with a meal I still to this day don’t care much for. Ham = blah. Greens = not bad. Cornbread that’s not sweet = meh. Black eyed peas = the debil. I’ve been told that my distaste for this menu may be cause enough for me to turn in my Steel Magnolia card, but I don’t believe it. You can stick it and please pass the boiled custard.

When I got older, you were a time for rest and recovery and why are y’all talking so loudly. Pajamas were the attire for the day and football the entertainment. You were a day to exhale, as the festivities of the holidays were in the rear view mirror and the pressures of the spring semester ahead yet to be revealed.

I have spent many of you watching a bowl game live and in person, thanks to a daddy who was a mucky-muck with the bowl committee and available tickets. There’s nothing quite like sitting in a full football stadium WITH YOUR PARENTS when you are either hung over or still under the influence of the considerable amounts of adult beverages consumed a fairly short time previously. How’s that for a fancy pants way to say “still drunk.” WITH YOUR PARENTS.

Anyhoo.

With you, I’ve nursed the flu (103 fever!) and a broken heart (stupid boys), entertained housefuls of people, comforted a friend whose mother suddenly passed away, driven hundreds of miles to get home in time to go back to work. And I’ve spent you at the isolet-side of my boy, helping to carry supplies and blankets and stuffed animals as he moved from the most critical area of the NICU to the area for more stable and improving little ones. That day, you were nothing but sheer joy.

I’ve experienced every conceivable emotion with you. Including hope. Always hope.

There’s a line of thought that says how one spends time on New Year’s Day sets the tone for the rest of the year. Not sure I buy into that, as I think one’s frame of mind on this day is more important.

And on this day I am focused and peaceful. Full of hope and overwhelmed with ideas. Creativity is pushing forward, relegating self-doubt and insecurity to the back row.

So on this, our annual rendezvous, New Year’s Day, I salute you and share a knowing wink. Here’s to us meeting again in approximately five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes. It is, as always, a pleasure.

This one’s a semi-long distance dedication just for you:

I'm so glad we had this time together,
Just to have a laugh, or sing a song.
Seems we just get started and before you know it
Comes the time we have to say, “So long".

4 comments:

bronsont said...

May you and your family have a WONDERFUL 2011!

Anonymous said...

You do need to hand back your Steel Magnolia card. Blasphemy!

Anyhoo.

It's a brand new day. Turn it up.

bronsont said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bronsont said...

Wait, this comment goes with the next post (woot) well time to cut & paste! :-)