{The quiet before the storm}
At midnight tonight the ball will drop in Times Square and 2014 will be ushered in with confetti while an estimated 750,000+ people watch themselves on screen as a robot controlled camera glides over overhead. You will not see Marty and me standing amongst the crowd. These days we gravitate towards an earlier evening and full day of events on January 1. Shortly after I moved here, we did have a wonderful New Year's Eve at a Manhattan restaurant complete with helium balloons decorating the ceiling and streamers dangling above our heads. When I naively suggested to a couple of our New York friends that one year we should all go to Times Square to see the Waterford Crystal ball drop, it was gently explained to me that a true New Yorker doesn't wait 8 hours in the freezing cold for such an event plus it's really an event for tourist. While I am still a tourist in many ways in this City, to get a choice spot, you must be in Times Square by 3:00 PM on New Year's Eve and remain in place until Ryan Seacrest dismisses you at 12:01 AM; I'm definitely not up for that.
What I am up for is a quiet evening taking in an early dinner at our favorite Cuban place, Calle Ocho and seeing a not so late movie. Marty has already bought tickets to see Nebraska and our reservations are made for dinner. The fun part of dinner besides the good food and festive atmosphere, will be reliving highlights from 2013 with Marty. Much of what we will discuss I shared with you in this blog.
I wrote about attending Haven Writing Retreat in Montana this past summer and the joy in finding like-minded women who are supportive and encouraging. That was definitely a high point of 2013 as well as completing the Intentional Living Series that we shared on the Footsteps blog. A low point was the cancer scare but most definitely the euphoric high upon learning the biopsy came back negative. I wrote of food, the lingering sadness after losing a parent, taking a sabbatical and even what our shoes say about us, and you responded with thoughtful and encouraging comments. I look forward to our journey together in 2014. So be careful while celebrating tonight. My early evening will end in my apartment in NYC with a glass of Champagne while joining the good folks of Nuuk, Greenland in a count down to midnight. To paraphrase Jimmy Buffett, it must be midnight somewhere.
Hugs,
C