Happy New Year?

Happy New Year?  What can we say about that? Somewhat glad the last year or two have passed? Glad to have made it through? Glad I am safe and warm and well sustained with family, friends, books and music. Like Pollyanna and the glad game. Missing the freedom of moving about and travel-but glad I have a home and a neighborhood to walk about. It feels as if life has been on hold and the receptionist is forgetting to get back on the line. “Can you please hold for a minute ………………………………………………………………………………?”

I don’t mean to complain, I know how many people have been delt devastating blows-Covid deaths, the tornados in Kentucky and neighboring states, the famine in Madagascar, New Orleans still digging out from Hurricane Ida, and on and on and on- I haven’t a whisper of discontentment when placed in that arena. But the modest day to day lives that exist within each of us, have been disrupted and shifted and turned upside down by this tiny bug too small to see. An extended winter of our lives and for our souls- a time to turn inward, resume reflection, reacquaint ourselves with ourselves. Yet the world keeps calling my name- “Come out and play!”

Do you remember New Years 2000? The fear of Y2K as we approached the New Millennium. The worry that the year 2000 wouldn’t be recognized as technology was only identifying the last two digits of each year? Bottled water flew off of the shelves and people huddled together with worry that a new dark age was on the horizon. I remember we had a gathering at our house with family and a few friends. We wore party hats and glasses and danced with my daughter’s rhythm band instruments. The clock struck 12 and life quietly continued on as normal. Thank heavens. That is my hope for this year-that life is returned to as close to normal as possible-a healthy world without masks, and gloves, and hand sanitizer. That our schools and restaurants and stores and churches and movie theaters and sporting events are filled with people without a ‘corona-worry’. That long lines are outside of ice cream parlors and not testing sites. That masks are reserved for Halloween and a few rogue burglars. How amazing that we may have taken that life for granted-for all of these years-for all of our lives-but no more. 

I know we will forever remember this time-life standing still for more than two years-months without seeing our loved ones-wiping down food deliveries before they enter our homes. The computer glowing in the wee hours of the morning trying to find a ‘Pea Pod’ delivery time. Masks in every jacket pocket. Thankfully things have eased up a bit but with each variant, new restrictions and new fears and life with no assurances.

If I have learned anything from this ‘life on hold’-I have learned to love the ho-hum days, the mask-free days, the carefree days. I am reminded that one of the most enlightening expeditions is the journey within-no travel plans or masks required. I continue to realize that words are the greatest gift of all and can fill in the space once occupied by loneliness-a card, a phone call, some kind words.

This new year I will look forward to our brave old world, our rose-colored glasses smudged a bit- our hearts alight with new awareness and appreciation, our arms ready to hug and be hugged, our passports dusted, our homes filled with visitors. One day we will find masks in the pockets of the jackets we hadn’t worn; we’ll wash them and store them away with our bric-a bracs and forgotten curios.

Happy New Year to all-may 2022 be a year when we’re taken off of hold and have a direct connection to life itself. May our lives and our world heal from this precarious time. The daffodils are due back in March, the ocean waters will warm, the sun won’t set ‘til after eight, we’ll sit elbow to elbow in the theater, shake hands, break bread, and one day this will be a distant memory. Wishing you all good health, good times and hearts filled with love.