Letting Go of Odd Numbers

by Julia Buckley
Christmas Day is past, and we all, hopefully, have happy memories of the time we spent with family and friends. We ate good food, opened nice presents, and--in the case of my family--sang carols in three and four part harmony that would rival the Von Trapp's holiday performances.

But now Christmas, like every holiday and every event in life, is something we will see only in retrospect. In fact, everything we do and say must be viewed through the rearview mirror, because as Kierkegaard famously wrote, "Life must be lived forward, but it can only be understood backwards."
So I'm preparing to let go of 2009 and look at it from my new vantage point. It's an odd number, and 2010 seems more promising at least in that it is more symmetrical. Maybe I'll even remember to write it on my checks. (It's not just that I might still write 2009--every New Year I have that one weird episode during which some crazy random year pops out: 1989 or 1992. The clerk who catches that one always gives me a weird look).

So just for the next couple of days (wherein, ironically, lies my birthday), I will enjoy that limbo moment when I can see both the horizon and the road behind me. They're both beautiful, and both hold promise. From one, I can always retrieve the happy memories (perhaps even slightly altered by time). In the other, I can pursue hopes and possibly even achieve them, one by one.

And, of course, I can make my resolutions. Maybe this year I'll just commit to a new mantra every day, like: What would a puppy do? or This day will be great because . . . .

May all of you enjoy the view both forward and backward. Any fun resolutions to share?

Happy 2010!