December 31. Last day of 2014. At the stroke of midnight tonight it will be 2015, yes, that's how it goes. One number passes into the next and we wish happy new year and believe, in some way that this new year will be a better year than the previous, that this new year will provide magic and only the good will prevail. We are hopeful. But in this hope we miss the humanness of the year before, of all the goods and the not so goods that came into our lives on a daily basis, that added to the being of who we are on this last day of December in the year 2014, how we are now different, stronger, wiser than we were as we sat on the cusp of the last new year. And that is the celebration-- that we are here to look into the new year, to ponder on where we've been, to appreciate where we are at this very moment, and to celebrate how in being human over the past year, we have endured and enjoyed and questioned and worried and loved and hoped and prayed. Our humanity connects us. As 2015 dawns, to hope that it will be a better year is to miss the goodness of the days we have had in the last year. How are we richer because of experience, not how did we make it through? We now know the answer to that is--we did! In our one sweet life each of us is like a double-sided coin, both the obverse and reverse form the whole. Changing the date does not assuredly change the value.
