2009

There are two things I look forward to every New Year’s. They’re not big, and they’re not necessarily important. But they’ve become my little ritual, and I have no intention of skipping them this year.

Number One: I like to write a New Year’s blog; a short piece of prose where I pass along good wishes to my friends and foes.

Number Two: I like to do the google search for the appropriate picture of Father Time to accompany that blog.

I may or may not drink.

I may or may not have too much.

I may or may not spend the midnight moment awake, or asleep … alone, or with friends … at home, or in some strange place where nobody knows my name.

There have been years I spent this midnight on a well-lit concert stage in a tuxedo, singing Auld Lang Syne into a microphone for large sums of money.

There have been years I sat alone in my pajamas, and let the words pass from an old thought into a new one, just barely moving my lips.

Some years I get a New Year’s kiss. Some years I don’t.

This blogging tradition is only a few years old, and I plan to keep it. But this year it is special to me.

2008 absolutely kicked my ass.

I have to grudgingly admire its strength.

2007 brought its share of rain; but ’08 was all about the thunder and lightning and flood.

I have life, and liberty, and strength. My religious friends frequently tell me that’s enough. And it IS true that without those things shit is considerably harder.

But don’t sleep on how much hell can exist even with those elements firmly in place.

There HAVE been bright spots.

I reconnected with a friend; actually three, that I never expected to share time or space with again. Friends have always been my most valuable possession. I am grateful to have each of them back in my universe.

That was the high point in between 2008 punching, kicking, scratching, and biting back.

But I’m a fighter too; bloody but unbowed.

Hey 2009, are you a lover or a fighter? Let’s get it on!

I have chosen for this year’s artwork a piece done by Vouet in 1627.

Relax, you could put everything I know about art in a micro thimble and still have room for a coffee stirrer to jangle around all the edges. This isn’t going to get technical.

The work is called Father Time Overcome by Love, Hope and Beauty.
It the interwebs can be believed, it hangs in Madrid’s Museo del Prado.

(Hey Denise, how about doing some reconnaissance work for a brotha?)

I picked it because this year, I’d like to see this sort of ass-whipping take place.

Okay, so time for the blessing – given equally to my friends and foes.

2009

I have wishes for you this year, just like always.

First and foremost, I wish you perspective on 2008.

If things were good for you in ‘08, I wish for you perfect vision to see through the pessimism that might surround you as the economy takes its hit and the nation tries to reset.

If things could’ve been better for you in ‘08, I wish you the courage to look around and realize that lots of people are doing fine, and you can be one of them just as easily as not.

But luck plays a role, and I wish you bushel baskets of the good kind this year.

I always wish you good health, but in 2009 I wish you a bit more; I wish for you awareness of how good your health is, and enough compassion on yourself to take an active role in moving it even closer to perfection.

There is room in the political world for each individual to have infinite agreements, and infinite disagreements with each other individual. In this moment of history, I wish for you the ability to grasp how radically the nation has changed in some people’s perspective, even if you think they’re nuts.

And if you are basking in the glow of this political moment, I wish for you the compassion to realize that change when you are content can be a frightening concept.

Satisfaction. I wish it for you in dumpster sized portions.

Family. I wish for you the opportunity to simply bask in its glow this year. I wish you the opportunities to reach out and touch the distant, and to hug and be hugged by those close.

I wish enough new technology for your universe to make it an even more efficient place.

I wish enough sunshine and nature around you that it is worthwhile for you to still look up from the keyboard on occasion to catch a beautiful sunset, or to look your children in the eyes when they tell you their latest story or joke.

I wish new laughter for you--mirth born in today’s movement, not mired in yesterday’s memory.
I wish new stories for you. I generously bless you with the space and time to do new things worth talking about.

I wish for you one problem that carries over from 2008. I wish for it to be gigantic! So big you cannot see how it will ever be resolved, but so dated that your 2009 superpowers melt it without burning even one calorie of your reserve.
I wish you a moveable moment of clarity. You will know when to use it, and why.

Once again, I wish you peace. Peace in life, peace in love, peace in mind, and peace in your daily decisions.

Finally, I wish you survival. I wish you a life long enough to find something in these wishes that resonates and forces you to remember; and a force that brings both of us here again in one year, maybe battered, perhaps bruised, but able to share the blessings from another year.

You to read, and me to bless you, and find a picture worth sharing.

Happy New Year!

Peace,
--Stew.
Photo: http://www.wga.hu/art/v/vouet/2/01timelo.jpg