Tuesday, January 01, 2013

For auld lang syne ...


My favorite new year post from a Facebook friend: "The new year used to be so fun. Now it's like, slow the hell down, life!" Ain't that the truth.

Sumner Garnes, who lived in Leoti, Kansas, sent this post card postmarked Dec. 30, 1911, to his first-cousin, my grandmother Jessie, to mark the transition into 1912. Seems like yesterday.

I made my resolution, "never let the sun set on a dirty dish," at about 10 last night --- then went to bed. And here it is a new year.

Another friend declared that 2012 "sucked" and added, "good riddance." I didn't think it was that bad, as years go. There are some advantages to just being alive and reasonably well. Consider the alternative.

And did you really think our elected representatives in Washington, D.C., would not reach some sort of deal to avoid the fiscal cliff plunge? Politicians are such drama queens.

In many ways, 2012 was absolutely fabulous. Same-sex couples married for the first time legally in Maryland just after midnight, as they had during December in Washington and Maine.  Same-sex marriage now is part of the social and legal foundations of nine state, including Iowa, plus the District of Columbia. Never thought I'd live to see that.

And how about those November elections? Barbarians for the most part driven back from the gates and the Obamas still in the White House. Wonderful!

Lots to do, but then there always has been. Dramas and disasters along the way --- always those, too.

I love quotes that become cliches. Here are some favorites to start the new year: "Hope springs eternal in the human breast" (Alexander Pope); "Carpe diem" (Horace); and "Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending" (Carl Bard).

Now go have a happy new year, darn it!

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