Visions of New Year’s Eve: Past and Present
Last year started off with a barrage of bad omens before the clock even struck midnight, and then continued well into the spring. 2011 was capricious. Does the word capricious relate to the word “Capricorn?” Because I am one, and there was something about last year that aligned my birth month with a fickle beginning.
The eve of New Year’s 2011 is wrought with visions of watering eyes, knees crashing onto pavement, an atmosphere composed of dark blacks and reds, and jittery conversations.
New Year’s day is a flip book of images of dead squirrels, flooded hardwood, credit card fraud, games of anxiety-reducing Angry Birds and a quiet resolution - a band-aid - to cure a fractured relationship. Of course, that didn’t last. I was sent into 2011 trying to walk ahead, while my nerves and my heart wanted to run backwards into the summer and fall of 2010.
The eve of New Year’s 2012 was hysterical, humble and convival. We started with aquiet and tasty supper of the Mexican variety. The warmth of our cabin was set onto the backdrop of a snowy lake. Huddled between two mountain ranges, my pals and I set out onto the vast expanse of the lake to cling to one another by a bonfire. We lit fireworks, we drank beer. We were in bed by 1am. Danced, played foosball, laughed, did headstands. I awoke with nothing but hilarious memories and a hang-over. The best part of the beginning of 2012 was that it could only get better after New Year’s day: I wouldn’t be hung-over past then.
January 2012 will be a month of relative sobriety. I say “relative” so that I give myself license to drink a small amount on my birthday. Entering the year with “clear eyes, full hearts… can’t lose!”*
2012 may be the end of the world, but we’ll take what we can get. And what we’ve got so far is pretty good. Albeit rainy.
*Awesome Friday Night Lights Reference
