New Year's Eve and New Year's Day have a way of sneaking up on us. Usually, we are still trying to get accustomed to winter weather. And we have had no chance to get rested up from a somewhat hectic season of Thanksgiving-through-one-week-after-Christmas. A time of running around, shopping for gifts and returning gifts. A time period punctuated by Christmas parties, and featuring broken diet plans and almost non-stop eating. And here we sit on Dec. 31 with a lot of TV football to watch and not one single New Year's resolution on paper.
Some optimistic folks just naturally assume that the coming year will somehow be even greater than the preceding glorious 12 months. Devout pessimists know that it will be even worse. Much worse! Lukewarm pessimists guess that it will be at least a trifle better than last year. It darned well better be. How the hell could things get any worse?
And a few people like myself will expect 1998 to be a year about like any other year. Most years have a lot of bright spots. A fair amount of successes, a lot of happy times - great times shared with family and friends - many that will add pages to our lifelong album of memories. And, hopefully, we will continue to enjoy good health.
But, with the world, the universe, and human beings built as they are, there will always be a few flies in the ointment. A few bad times to punctuate the good. As one old friend says, "That's God's way of reminding humans that they aren't in heaven yet, and that the Pearly Gates are a great goal to shoot for."
Another friend has a different way of wording it. I have probably quoted him before (we old-timers repeat ourselves a lot). He says that every hound needs a few fleas, just to keep him too busy to have time to worry about being only a dog.
Putting New Year's resolutions down on paper sounds like a great idea. A lot of people have good success with this method of self-improvement. I've tried writing out a few goals from time to time. But with little success. Old habits die hard. This year I might try again.
Some people don't really get too concerned about what the new year will bring, or how it will compare to last year. And some of that group have learned that New Year's Eve is the greatest time of the year to party.
Happy New Year! Have a great one!
HAPPY, REWARDING NEW YEAR!
Another day, another year,
Should we anticipate ... or fear?
What surprises will this year bring?
Will it cause us to cry or sing?
Another year, a brand-new day,
Will life go on the same old way?
Or will we face progress and change?
Must we our lifestyle rearrange?
If the new year brings strict commands
Insists we change, makes strange demands,
A change of pace will suit me fine.
I'll be the first to get in line.
One thing not popular with me
Is day-to-day monotony:
The same old work, the same old line,
Like: "How are you?" and, "I am fine."
So many things I still don't know.
I love watching young people grow
As they prepare to carry on
When folks like you and I are gone.
New things they'll learn, great sights they'll see,
So strange to dinosaurs like me.
So many years I've let drift by,
This gray old head now wonders "Why?"
This New Year we so soon will face
May not allow running in place –
Working away on life's treadmill –
Puffing, sweating while standing still,
But demand we meet fate half-way –
Work, think, and learn – waste not one day.
Enjoy these 12 months, as we come
One year nearer millennium.
Some optimistic folks just naturally assume that the coming year will somehow be even greater than the preceding glorious 12 months. Devout pessimists know that it will be even worse. Much worse! Lukewarm pessimists guess that it will be at least a trifle better than last year. It darned well better be. How the hell could things get any worse?
And a few people like myself will expect 1998 to be a year about like any other year. Most years have a lot of bright spots. A fair amount of successes, a lot of happy times - great times shared with family and friends - many that will add pages to our lifelong album of memories. And, hopefully, we will continue to enjoy good health.
But, with the world, the universe, and human beings built as they are, there will always be a few flies in the ointment. A few bad times to punctuate the good. As one old friend says, "That's God's way of reminding humans that they aren't in heaven yet, and that the Pearly Gates are a great goal to shoot for."
Another friend has a different way of wording it. I have probably quoted him before (we old-timers repeat ourselves a lot). He says that every hound needs a few fleas, just to keep him too busy to have time to worry about being only a dog.
Putting New Year's resolutions down on paper sounds like a great idea. A lot of people have good success with this method of self-improvement. I've tried writing out a few goals from time to time. But with little success. Old habits die hard. This year I might try again.
Some people don't really get too concerned about what the new year will bring, or how it will compare to last year. And some of that group have learned that New Year's Eve is the greatest time of the year to party.
Happy New Year! Have a great one!
HAPPY, REWARDING NEW YEAR!
Another day, another year,
Should we anticipate ... or fear?
What surprises will this year bring?
Will it cause us to cry or sing?
Another year, a brand-new day,
Will life go on the same old way?
Or will we face progress and change?
Must we our lifestyle rearrange?
If the new year brings strict commands
Insists we change, makes strange demands,
A change of pace will suit me fine.
I'll be the first to get in line.
One thing not popular with me
Is day-to-day monotony:
The same old work, the same old line,
Like: "How are you?" and, "I am fine."
So many things I still don't know.
I love watching young people grow
As they prepare to carry on
When folks like you and I are gone.
New things they'll learn, great sights they'll see,
So strange to dinosaurs like me.
So many years I've let drift by,
This gray old head now wonders "Why?"
This New Year we so soon will face
May not allow running in place –
Working away on life's treadmill –
Puffing, sweating while standing still,
But demand we meet fate half-way –
Work, think, and learn – waste not one day.
Enjoy these 12 months, as we come
One year nearer millennium.
