Ahhh...New Year's Eve...so full of the simultaneity of optimism about a future that has yet to hurt us and the anxiety that time is running from us faster than we can ever hope to catch. For me this year, it seems all optimism and zero anxiety or dread. I'm not sure how I got to this point, but I sure ain't gonna question it and potentially wave away the image with a careless hand. In fact, I am going to start the year off with a bit of grace for myself. Weather-permitting, I annually try to start the year with a run, doing my best to cross the threshold from old-to-new with my breath puffing out before me in visible plumes of cold as I stridestridestride down the street (my use of the image "stridestridestride might be a tad hyperbolically positive, but...) This year, I did no such thing.
Now...
I could certainly make the excuse that the weather was not agreeable for a run. We got anywhere from 5-8 inches of snow in littler over an hour, and the temperature hovered near the late teens, worse than a letch in an after-school special, but that excuse is not only disingenuous, it is also unnecessary. Part of the grace that I am extending is in the form of allowing myself to skip a run for any number of hedonistic reasons (I don't feel like it, there is something good on television, I'm too cozy with my kittens on the couch, etc.) For tonight, my reasons are, in my estimation, perfect. I have a belly full of a New Year's Eve dinner that I cooked for myself (steak, salad, peas, and really, really good wine); my living room, set to the perfect temperature, is also illuminated by the glow of my Christmas lights and that of a pine-scented candle, my cats (yes, catS) are, for the moment, sleeping harmoniously with nary a *BAP* of raised paw to break the silence; and leaning back with my feet on my ottoman, I am looking outside the window, watching the snow blanket everything in the blue that is refleceted off of the barely-visible moon and listening to that same snow dampen all sounds so that the silence outside matches the silence inside. I am so contented right now that I forgive myself for not running tonight. I'm not too tired, I'm not too cold, it's not too dangerous; I'm just too happy with my situation (there "why" as well as the "where" and the "when") to stir up the muscles that will still be waiting for me tomorrow. Don't worry--tomorrow, I'll join the "resolution crowd" and go to the gym.
Lately, the mantra on my Facebook posts has been, "It's a good life, indeed." Yes...yes, it is.
Goodbye 2025! You did not kill me. Happy 2026, everyone!
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