10 AM on January 1st. It’s just another winter day. I was woken up at the stroke of midnight last night by a really loud explosion, that was no gun shot or firecracker. Someone around here probably makes their own explosives, because that blast even set off the motion detectors that turn on my security lights. It shook the ground.
That was followed by some gunshots, car horns blaring and a few people yelling “Happy new year”, and then silence and I was able to get back to sleep.
New year celebrations were exciting when I was young and lived in a city, but I’ve seen so many of them now, and I’m not out celebrating with the rest of the young crowd anymore. I’m not complaining, I’m lucky to still be alive, all things considered. Anymore, though, New Year’s Day is just a reminder that I’ll have another birthday in a few days, and another year pretty much like the last one. It’s like the Talking Heads song, “Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens”. This must be Heaven.
It’s this time of year when warm days are at their nadir that I start thinking of what I should plant in the garden next spring. That’s my way of looking past the deadness of everything outside, the barren trees and brown grass, by imagining the bright green of new life springing from the ground. Which may be why it’s called Spring, come to think of it. It’s called Fall because that’s what the leaves do.
For all of you out there who see today as a New Start, I hope it is one for you and is all and more than you hope for.