By Josh Resnek
I write about this over and over, and have done so throughout the years.
We don’t know what awaits us when one year changes to another.
It is impossible to know how the new year is going to play out.
What is in store for us in 2023 – I’ll let you know in another twelve months.
Sunday’s Boston Globe this past weekend was filled with pages of obituaries.
Many men and women didn’t make it into 2023. The world stopped in 2022 for those folks.
Several families in Everett had to deal with deaths in the family at the end of the year.
Many, many families around the nation and world suffered the loss of a loved one on January 1, 2023.
Juxtaposed against this harsh reality were the new babies born on New Year’s day.
Bottom line – life goes on every day. Death visits us every day. Sickness, too. There is no taking a break from life and its harsh realities.
New Year’s Eve is just another night.
New Year’s day, just another day.
At the beginning of the new year, there is usually a sense of calm and quiet that is pervasive in nearly all our cities and towns across the land. The party ends. We tend to sleep a bit later. Then many of us go out for a ride or a walk to take a look around at the new year.
Some people make promises or pledges to do this and that.
It is typically referred to as making a resolution.
Many make them. Many keep them. Many don’t.
There is no way of knowing what the new year holds until it happens.
This is another harsh bottom line about life, about all our lives.
We only get so many new years in the course of our lives.
It is the same with birthdays, holidays, and Whether you were born in 1940-1950-1960- 1970 and on and on, the new year connotes another moment in your life when everything might change for you.
What a difference a new year can make in your life experience.
You could score a success. You could plummet into failure. You could rise out of an abyss or you could get stuck with no real movement.
The new year is filled with surprises, and with escalating ups and downs.
When I was younger, I called my parents every New Year’s eve.
Both my parents are gone now.
My father left more than 30 years ago.
My mother went five years ago.
I’m an orphan. Many people think about a situation like that in those terms.
I’m older now.
There are no more calls to my parents on New Year’s Eve – and really, very few calls to others. Yes. Life has changed for all of us in the new world rising around us.
This new year could be my last or I could have another 20 in front of me.
It is impossible to know.
What we know for sure is that we all get old.
We all get sick and we all die.
When we are young, we look forward to all the time in front of us.
When we are old we look back on everything that has passed us by.
The only thing we truly own…is this moment. Enjoy this new year moment.
Enjoy it while it lasts.