Countdown

The beginning of a new decade and the end of the first decade of the 21st century.  Tonight we celebrate the passing into a new year and a new decade.  11 is a good number - a double first.

When I was a small kid, I had often pondered and marvelled at how long it would be before the 21st century came around and I used to count how old I would be by the turn of the century.  Well, I ponder no more because time as relentless in its flow as a river finding its way to the sea had brought the change which was more commonplace than I had imagined way back then.  I spent the hours between 1999 and 2000 watching my servers and news of countries entering one by one into the new millennium to see if cataclysm and chaos would reign.  There was nary a whimper of anything extraordinary save for the usual gallavanting and fireworks.  The divine did not come down in person(s) to bless us and I simply grew another day older.  Oftentimes, our childish imaginations are more exciting than reality.

We will be at Mountain House cheering the countdown loudly and pulling poppers with relish.  With friends who have become a sort of surrogate extended family without whom we would have been adrift in a new land.

Time for us all to make new resolutions and to remember to keep them.  Taking a leaf off the Y2K non-event, for me, it will be to stop worrying so much and let destiny take us where it will.  Time to let my hair down a little.  Surely it is not my burden alone to bear.  Happy New Year to all loved ones, far and near!  You all mean a lot to me.