Newness

I remember cutting confetti out of scrap paper and getting a sip of cheap champagne on New Year's Eve when I was a child. There were a few scattered years I spent with friends, at small parties or out in the city. And for the last decade, I celebrated in a variety of hotel rooms with crowns and horns I'd packed in my suitcase. Of course resolutions were made, but I can't remember most of them and I certainly can't remember keeping any of them. 

This year, I was with family again: talking, playing games, eating chinese food and sneaking away from the party to phone a boy. It was familiar (they're my family, after all) and strange at the same time. When last I was with this crowd, most of the kids hadn't even reached teenagerhood, some  of them hadn't been born. We reminisced about that night, the cusp of a new century, which I spent in my sister's basement, coaxing kids into creating a play to perform for their parents. They were an unwieldy crowd hyped up on soda and cookies, but we managed to put on quite a show.

Last night, several of them were joined by a boy/girlfriend and could legally toast the stroke of midnight. Most of the older ones didn't even stick around, having better offers from friends. It's exciting, watching these people I knew as babies at the beginning of their adulthood and wondering what this year holds in store for them.

Speaking of NEW, yesterday, before the festivities I visited B in the hospital in order to see her day old baby boy. He's tiny and sweet and wrinkly and gorgeous. I held him and checked out his fingers and toes and stared into his face. There's no denying the hope a newborn baby can inspire. The idea of a whole new life; oh! the possibilities!  She'll be bringing him home today and it's impossible not to think of the excitement of starting this new year as a bigger, happier family. Shouldn't every new year foster such hope of a fresh start?

And that's the thought I'm going to try to keep for the day, and for the year. My resolution for 2010 is to work at taking advantage of fresh starts. I've always wanted to be the type of person who wakes up in the morning with wide eyes and an optimistic attitude. I have not been that person. But everyday SHOULD bring new hope. There are infinite directions in which one's day can go; why not start each with a positive frame of mind? 

Here's hoping this resolution sticks. Cheers!