New Year’s Eve Memories Over the Years

It’s New Year’s Eve 2010, and I find myself in a familiar place…the kitchen where I grew up in Blawenburg NJ.  I’m about to walk across the street to my sister Annie’s house and join several other familiar faces to celebrate the New Year.  Sadly, two of my sisters appear to have taken ill, so it won’t be the joyous reunion we all had hoped for; four siblings all with their loving partners, oh well.

I often think about New Year’s Eve and how many different things I’ve done to celebrate it. I remember spending one in a synagog, doing Jewish ceremonies which were foreign to me, and another in Martha’s Vineyard, where it was cold, snowy and downright depressing.

I remember a cocaine-fueled New Years back in the ’80s where we talked and talked and talked and talked…but I don’t remember just what it was that was so interesting. One time we did First Night in Bethlehem PA, and I listened to a wonderful blues singer, who really hit a nerve with her poignant lyrics and passionate singing.  Once I froze walking around Northampton MA doing the First NIght– I have never done that one again.

I remember one New Years a few years ago in my friends Jack and Laura’s comfortable large house in Greenfield. where we joined a small group of about 15 people and a magician did tricks for us.   In another year, 2000, I crossed the international dateline on my way down to New Zealand, so I actually missed the entire night and most of the day on the ground.

New Year’s Eve, as we get older, is really just another night, isn’t it? I am blessed with good health, the love of a great woman, children and grandchildren who I’m proud of and businesses that make me fulfilled and happy. What more do I need?

Happy New Year!