Setting the Tone

The New Year’s holiday has always held special meaning for me. Steeped in tradition, in contemplation and hope, I’ve always held the belief that New Year’s Day sets the tone for the upcoming year. Gads, I may be in trouble this year. It’s still early, so certainly no need to despair, but I think I’d better eat lots of black-eyed peas and cabbage, you know the good luck foods that require immense creativity to make palatable.

Let me explain how my New Year’s Day began. My dog, yes, faithful companion and best friend of man, started out the New Year on the wrong note. A lovely dog by all means, an Australian Shepherd breed, he is the biggest extrovert of a dog you would ever hope to meet. He can’t bear to be alone for even a minute. When he is alone, he gets mad. And then he gets even by hiking his leg and marking his spot, usually on the nearest and most available house plant.

We learned early on that to correct this “situation” we shut the dog and his loving sister, the cat, in the laundry room together when we are about to leave the house. It has worked beautifully! The cat and dog have further bonded, and the dog, God bless his heart, hasn’t peed on anything in the laundry room. Of course, we don’t have any house plants in the laundry room either.

As you may already know, at midnight in Texas on New Year’s Eve, the loudest and brightest fireworks spew across the skies. I went outside to share in the excitement last night with my husband in tow. Oooh. Aaah. We marveled at the brightly lit sky. We wished our daughters a happy New Year, and then quickly returned back to the warmth inside. Last night was cold, even by New England standards.

Five minutes, tops. That’s how long we might have been outside at the maximum. And neither of us gave thought to locking the dog (and cat) in their chambers while we walked outside for just a minute. Big mistake. He showed us. Oh the agony of starting the year cleaning dog spray, aka urine, from the carpet. My husband is so mad at the dog; he hasn’t yet said a word to him! Let’s hope this isn’t a reflection of the year ahead.

All that being said, I still have a full day in front of me. And on a positive note (I do like to end on a positive note), I spent the first hour of my day writing. Let’s hope this IS a reflection of the year ahead!

Here’s wishing you a Happy New Year! May all your resolutions hold true, and may all your blank pages be filled with interesting muse, engaging stories, fascinating description, and proverbial good words!

Sheryl