New Year’s Party Recap
I just crawled out of the cocoon of our 3 quilt bed after snoozing for 15 hours. At least I think it’s 15, although maybe it’s 39 and we missed a day. We had our annual New Years Party a day ago, or two, and I guess we were exhausted after two days of prepping for it and another cleaning up the debris. This year we had a lot of folks cancel because of colds, flu and icy roads so the crowd was limited to about 45 or 50, not the expected 75 or so.
We used to have a few folks over New Years eve, maybe have dinner, then wait patiently for the clock to hit midnight so we could all, mercifully, wish one another a Happy New Year, call it a night, then toddle off to bed. Those last couple of hours were painful. We finally decided to Go Big or go home. So … we went big. Course in the early years here, we didn’t know a lot of folks and we didn’t have many friends down here on the wild South End. Most of the pioneers were older and not that interested in us young upstart newcomers.
But it’s been about 35 years and us young upstart newcomers aren’t anymore. We old codgers have been worming our way into various island nooks and crannies, everything from the Historical Society to the Beach Watchers, the arts crowd to the music scene, the Senior Center to the fire departments, from the Grange to the Friends of the Parks. As the island grew, so did our social circles. And so did the New Years Party.
It’s more than a little ironic, I think, that the xenophobic kid who moved to a shack at the end of this long skinny ass island, the guy who wanted nothing more than to be left alone, should have, after all these years, so many good friends and close acquaintances, so many neighbors he’s happy to see. Life is a series of unexpected turns, some detours and more than a few great surprises, this party every year being proof of that. Happy New Year to all of you. Make a resolution, then don’t worry if it changes into something else. It might be for the best after all….