It is almost time to do it all again.
Ring in another year.
2022 is upon us, waiting quietly in the wings, ready to break through the thin veil of time separating the old from the new.
Happy New Year, everyone.
The dawn of 2022 marks a new beginning for each and everyone of us.
With the new year still flaunting itself, untarnished and unshackled by ghosts of the past, optimism can reign supreme.
That being said, I have absolutely no intention of making any new year’s resolutions.
No siree! Not me!
I know from past experience that there is no point. Absolutely no point.
The sad, but real truth of the matter is that even though the year is brand spanking new and each calendar page a blank, perfect canvas on which to live out each day, my imperfect self will make that impossible.
And, of course, life itself, will get in the way.
I think John Lennon, the famous Beatle, put the concept of making resolutions, whether they be new year’s resolutions or made at another random time, like on a Tuesday, in perspective, with his quote, ‘life is what happens when you make other plans.’
And the great Scottish poet Robert Burns reminded us that the best laid plans of mice and men can sometimes go awry.
COVID-19 has certainly thrown a monkey wrench into the best laid plans of many of us over the last while.
However, against all odds, I do believe that it is prudent to face the new year with hope and optimism even though we are all tired, so very tired of this pandemic that seems to know no end.
And even as we dutifully wear masks and grumble and complain because our glasses fog up and we cannot see and we cannot hear people (weird why wearing a mask makes everything sound muffled), we wait.
We wait and hope that we have done enough to protect ourselves, our families and everyone out there who we may have accidentally shared air space with.
As for me, I am quite sure I will take the first steps into the new year holding onto optimism and hope cautiously, yet tenaciously.
And I will probably smile behind my mask and put on lipstick, which is truly an exercise in futility, and end up running back to my car multiple times because I forget things like keys and masks not once, but always.
I guess mostly I will continue to find reasons to smile, even laugh every day because, in spite of the odds, there always seems to be a reason to do so.
Happy New Year, everyone. Take care, stay safe and keep smiling behind those masks.
The smile could spread to your eyes and make people wonder what you’ve been up to.
Treena Mielke is a Central Alberta writer. She lives in Sylvan Lake with her family.