Time Passed! A new Year Came
New Year’s Eve; the only night my siblings and I could stay out way past bedtime and not get in any trouble with mom. Neighborhood kids gathered, sang songs, played games and waited for the clock to strike midnight. Tick, tock, tick, tock; seconds, minutes hours and then midnight! We lit a bonfire. Set off home made fireworks, boom, boom, boom! And we danced under a starry, moonlit sky until our mothers called us home. Those glorious December nights, when the harmattan reigned and dried everything, lips, skin, leaves and branches. Those were my preteen and teen years.
Time passed. We celebrated time and time again. Isn’t the celebration of New Year really a celebration of the passage of time? 365 days or maybe 365 one-quarter days, ticking away second after second.
New Year’s Eve, an hour to midnight, I sit with mom and dad, awaiting midnight. I’m a young adult now, I have no time for bonfires and accompanying song and dance. We flip channels on the television, between praise singing worshippers and dead drunk partygoers. Tick, tock, tick, tock, new year dawns. Dad pops open a bottle of non-alcoholic wine, we clink glasses, happy new year! I sip pretentiously, as if I don’t knock back a stiff gin and wash it down with a glass or two of vodka every now and then. Home boring home! Why am I even here? Oh I know, in a few days, I’ll have to pay tuition and living expenses and I don’t have a job. Oh well, sparkling apple cider it is. Happy new year! One day the young shall grow.
New Year’s Eve, I am a mother of three. I am thousands of miles away from the place of bonfires and song and dance. Winter, cold and frigid has replaced harmattan. My favorite time of the year gives me little joy; I am pregnant, homesick, sick and pissed! Hyperemesis is kicking my butt! “Happy new year”, my husband says, sympathetically touching my forehead. “What is happy about the new year? Your hands are cold. Leave me alone.” My misery does not love company.
New Year’s Eve, it’s still winter. I am joyful, hopeful and grateful. In place of hyperemesis, I have a chocolate, hairy bundle of joy! Wide eyed with the most charming toothless grin, my youngest daughter has taught me lessons an Ivy League education could never! Did I tell you I birthed her in a car park? That’s another story for another day. I hold my baby against my cheek, she rewards me with a slobbery kiss; actually that’s not a kiss, that’s her mistaking my cheek for her dinner. She fusses and coos and then rewards me with a wide, happy grin. My heart is full. The difference 365 days can make; a full fledged human! I am no longer pissed.
Are you happy? Sing praises. Are you hurt, troubled, afraid, pissed? Pray, praise, persevere. Ask for help. Accept offered help. Hang in there and look forward with faith to better days. Dare to dream and hope for the best, the passage of time brings healing, clarity and peace.
So let’s celebrate the passage of time. Let’s make a bonfire in our hearts and dance around it! Happy New Year!
Happy New Year
This is good. Many more happy years return.
A story of many exciting events…lesson learnt, no matter the event in your life a New would still pass…Make the best use of time. It never waits for you.