So Long 2024! “Auf Wiedersehen – Good Bye”

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It’s us and our expectations who make all the fuzz, time itself passes quietly, from day to night, day in and day out. Weeks and months depart, and then the old year tries to leave at midnight when we are supposed to sleep, but we don’t let it. We stay up, watch it leave, kick it in the rare, tell it to go away, and never come back. Another bad year, like so many before. We expected more, we deserve better. “Go away old year, I will forget you.”

"Time has no divisions to mark its passage, there is never a thunderstorm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols." Thomas Mann

We await the new year with hope in our eyes and longing in our hearts. It will be better. It has to be. Fireworks brighten the sky, to announce the arrival of better times.

Another twelve months will be given to most of us. 365 wonderful days to fulfill dreams, reach goals, find love, make peace, and spread joy. Resolutions are set in place, and promises are made. We set the bar high -everything will be better, now since the old year has finally come to an end.

And then I start wondering

Maybe we don’t need the fireworks for the New Year, but should instead quietly thank the old year for everything it has given us. The year never disappoints, we do. Some have lost a loved one, others have given birth. Both lives should be celebrated.

Like we say “Grace” on Thanksgiving, perhaps we should look back and be grateful.

Twelve new months were given to us so freely in January. Did we make the most of it?

I know I didn’t, but I tried. Maybe next year, I will do better?

Bring it on 2025, I am as ready as I ever will be.

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