It's 2022.
I need to let that sink in. It's 2022.
I can vividly remember being downstairs in our rumpus room (aptly named by my husband when he transformed the basement) with my brother and sister-in-law, my new niece asleep upstairs in our nursery that wasn't meant to be empty, but for us, at the time, was.
It was December 31, 1999. The Mayan calendar was ending, the computers weren't going to know what to do with "00" for a year.
We waited with bated breath as we watched the ball fall in NYC from our television.
5.4.3.2.1
It fell.
2000 arrived.
The lights didn't flicker. We opened up the basement door to look out into the darkness, for anything amiss, something that would make life, right then, noticeably different, for our stories to tell later on. "I remember when it turned 2000..."
"I was kissing Daddy when it turned 2000 and then..."- but other than some far away sounds of noisemakers riding the wind, 2000 came in just as quietly as all the years before had. (I do vividly remember going back to school in 1980 though and finding it so strange to have to write 1980 on my assignments rather than 1979, but after all, it was my first turn over decade, so I would say that was pretty significant!)
And now I blinked, we blinked, and it's 2022.
2021 was a tough year in general for most people everywhere. And I'm pretty sure a communal sigh emanated around the world last night.
I've had worse, though.
Most have.
And yet, we persevere and move forward. We raise our heads and hold out our hands. We mend our hearts, our faith, our mankind, and we say, let's do this better this year. We do this EVERY YEAR.
That's pretty amazing!
Every year, we lift up our beaten brow. Like a prize fighter in the corner, we take the splash of water, wipe the cut on our forehead, put our mouth guard back in, and move back into the center of the ring.
My New Year's resolution is to lose the 15 pounds that keeps returning no matter how many times I make it go away, to work on my new book one hour a day, to keep my house clean, to do 3 miles a day on the treadmill at the speed of 3.5, to try new recipes, to go to museums...pretty much, the same as every other year. But this year I'm adding "be in the center of the ring" to my mantra.
I like the ring of it!
See you there.