One Day

What a difference a day makes.

Happy New Year! How was your New Year’s Eve?

I don’t go out on New Year’s Eve anymore because every year it seems there are so many expectations I have for the evening/holiday that remain unmet, that I just don’t want to be disappointed anymore. I have to drive myself if I go out, (I saw where one person got gouged $700 for a shared ride – SAY WHAT!?) and I’m not much of a drinker, and I hate feeling out of control anyway, so there’s no point to going out to “party,” and no handsome, virile man to dress up for and kiss at midnight, so there’s no real reason to celebrate publicly. I like to stay at home and have a quiet evening, introvert that I am, and just be reflective about the year ahead.

The best New Year’s I ever had was many years ago in a church basement with my church family up North where we prayed in the New Year over one another. Much to my delight and surprise, I was paired with a very handsome young man I had so much respect for, to pray with. I was shocked the very conservative pastor would pair two single people of opposite genders together, but I liked the guy, and praying together can be a very intimate thing. It was lovely. That young man has gone on to do many wonderful things for God and other people. I wish him the very best.

The worst New Year’s? Which one? The one where my best childhood friend abandoned me at the restroom at Faneuil Hall in Boston when we were 16, drunk as a skunk on vodka and orange juice I was drinking from a Mountain Dew bottle, and after I couldn’t find her and her friends, I wandered around the buildings looking for them for an hour and a half, and passed the stroke of midnight standing on the stairs looking for them while drunken revelers got in my face shouting belabored and alcohol-scented, “HAP-PY NEW YEAR’S!” with their hot breath making the tears that were freezing on my face continue to roll? Or the one a couple years ago at the open jam outside of Nashville where a loose suicidal mental patient strung out on heroin tried to hang himself in the bathroom while I sang to the crowd to distract them and the restaurant staff and his friends they called over in their PJs babysat him in the owner’s pickup truck outside?

What did I do to deserve a crappy New Year’s? Why can’t I just have a fun time on New Year’s? WHAT IS IT!? So, I don’t bother anymore.

So last night, I made fresh gluten-free gingerbread. (No, I don’t have any wheat sensitivities – which I’m aware of – it was just on sale, and I liked the packaging, so I didn’t read the box carefully.) I watched Forensic Psychology programs on YouTube and petted my sleepy sweet cat, Simon from the couch in my PJs. I even forgot I had champagne in the fridge. Since I’d napped from 1-4 that day, I wasn’t tired. I just responded to text and Facebook messages from friends and family and played video games on my phone. I’m into Entrepreneur games these days. Mindless stuff where you can only win, you know?

Then, at 2:30 AM, I received a text from a friend asking if I were awake and if I could do them a favor. “Depends,” I responded, “What is it?”

Long story short and anonymity preserved, I had friends in crisis that needed my help.

It was a long, emotional night, and it’s been a long, tiring day, mostly for them. I have complete faith they will get through this series of events. Lots of hope in it for them, and I will be there as much as they need me.

It wasn’t the New Year’s I expected or planned for, again, but you know, I’m just grateful I had the ability and experience to help. I’m at my happiest, personally, when I feel I am helping someone. I don’t have all the answers. I don’t have it all together. It just worked out that what they needed at the time, I had to give, and thank God for that. There’s nothing new under the sun.

Oh gosh, typing that just made my eyes well up. (And well up again, editing this part.)

You never know when the trials you’ve endured will help someone else, or when you might be the one in crisis that just needs someone who understands to just be there.

My hope for 2017 is that we will be there for each other and count our trials as experience we will one day use to help someone else.

God bless my friends and you who are reading this. Happy New Year – One Day At A Time.