New Year's Eve - Goodbyes

I can't believe it's New Year's Eve again. Frankly it surprises me every year that January is after December. And I've just figured out why that is. I think of the calendar as a vertical line with January at the top and December at the bottom. And I also think of the years as sitting next to each other, not running together end after end. All Januarys are next to each other, etc. So it seems odd that when we're at the bottom in December there is this invisible connection to the top again to January. I know it's odd but it's sort of like all those other associations I make like colors for school subjects (English is yellow or red, math is red, science is green, social studies is blue). But I digress. A long standing tradition with my friends is to say goodbye just before midnight to all the things (or people) that will (or already have) left us with the ending of that year. Good or bad. And usually they are bad. Some not so bad, like we'll say goodbye to my old job because I will leave it in 2004 and won't have it again in 2005. The ones relating to people are obviously sadder. As an example we will probably say goodbye to Ronald Reagan who also left us in 2004. This will be one we'll do early on, it's easy to say goodbye to a president we never knew. We'll need much more beer and emotions to get through the rest of our goodbye list. I actually suggested we skip it this year because I'm too chicken to actually live through it. Although if I lived through the 1999 goodbye of my mother and the 2003 goodbye of the baby then I can pretty much survive anything. And I know that there are things we need to say goodbye to so others can have that little step toward closure. But just as I said about the calendar we are on the bottom in December only to be at the top again in January. The new year and all the new events to come fill us with at least the hope that the new year will be better. And it has to be better!