New Year

Another year winds to a close. The idea that the year changes at midnight tonight is an arbitrary idea. The calendar could just as well have been set up to have the year end on the winter solstice of December 22nd, or the spring equinox in March, or on April Fools day for that matter. Never-the-less tonight is the night for the western world to celebrate the change. Las Vegas expects about 300,000 celebrants from around the world. The police will block off more than a mile of the Strip and it will be shoulder to shoulder people as sequenced fireworks explodes from atop numerous casino/hotels at twelve midnight. We were in Vegas for 17 New Years Eves and were never once tempted to join that roiling mass of humanity. I can think of little I would like less than being jostled by hundreds of thousands of total strangers in the middle of the street, then trying to retrieve the car and find a route through the traffic jam afterwards.

The New Year comes in 24 different times around the world, once in each time zone. If we had Star Trek's ability to beam a person from one point to another we could celebrate the new year 24 times in one day. I don't think I would make it through all 24 glasses of Champaign though.

We look at the new year as a dividing point, another category to segregate our lives into manageable segments of time. It's a time to reflect on the year just passing, the good the bad, a time to consider changes we need or want to make in the new year just dawning. Many people make new year's resolutions, then break them the first week. Personally I like to think about the year just passing, recalling the good memories and good times, and be thankful for the many blessings the year has brought.

I wish for each of you a fulfilling new year of love and joy, of wonderful times and memories. Whatever may come, strive to enjoy 2008, creating fond memories to reflect on a year from now. Happy New Year.