Meetings and Partings

by Ava Cuvay

Happy 2018! New Years are a perfect time to reflect on the previous year and make  plans for the new. Like a new story, the new year is a book of blank pages waiting to be filled. But we don't approach these blank pages with our own "blankness"... Instead, we come to the table with a lifetime of experience, the good and the bad, and we hope we can keep the good and dump (or at least improve) the bad. 

A New Year is kind of our chance to edit our lives. ;-)

Each New Year is a little bittersweet for me. Firstly, it’s my birthday. And the addition of another year to my age makes me grumble. Especially when hubby-dear “rounds up” to the nearest decade to tease me. Fortunately, he’s older than me so I can always turn the joke around on him.
 
Secondly, when I reflect on the previous year, there always seems to be more about my life (particularly myself) that I want to change for the coming year, and the task seems daunting.
 
Over the holiday break, we introduced the kiddos to a couple new holiday movies, one being the Muppet version of A Christmas Carol. I knew the singing and the funny muppet characters would entertain them without being overly dark and morose as that story can sometimes get. Plus, I like to watch the Swedish Chef ;-) The scene during the ghost of Christmas yet to be, when Scrooge visits his employer's house only to find Tiny Tim has passed, hit a note with me this year. (Silly, right? That I'm getting life advice from stuffed puppets?)
 
In the scene, Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit and family sit down for dinner with one seat notably empty. Kermit turns to the others, heavy with his own grief, and says ,"Life is made up of meetings and partings. That is the way of it."
 
I'm sure these words were written by Charles Dickens, and not Jim Henson, but they reminded me of the ebb and flow of our lives. People come and go, places and events, and even our own personal youth and physical abilities. And that's not always a bad thing. It's a natural part of living in our world. There is a certain amount of peace which these words bring to me. Like permission to let things go which I've been clinging to or permission to quite berating myself for mistakes I might or might not have made.
 
It helps me part with the previous year so I can meet this new one with less regret and emotional baggage. I get a fresher start and the pages of my blank book look more like an opportunity than simply more of the same trudging through the days.
 
So a Happy 2018 to everyone! May you have lots of meetings (okay, not the office kind!) and may your partings be the kind which bring ease to your life!
 

Comments

  1. Happy 2018, Ava! RadioMan does the same thing to me and my typical comeback is, '...but no matter how old I get, I'll never be as old as you...' hehe
    Happy birthday!

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    1. Lol! It really hurts when the kiddos say things like "Were cars around back in your day?"

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  2. Happy New Year, and happy birthday, Ava! Meetings and partings sort of sums up life, doesn't it? I hope your dreams come true in 2018.

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    1. Thanks Jana! I hope the same for you in 2018!

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  3. Yay for fresh starts for everyone. Happy Birthday, Ava!

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