A new year has come, and I saw it over the threshold at a party in Vännäs, a smaller town outside of Umeå, with freshly-made aquiantances--Maria, Sara-Liz and her husband Linus, Håkan, Kerstin, Rolf, Kristina, and Sannah with an H.
"Make yourself at home," said Sannah with an H, the host of the evening, ushering us into the living room.
"If there were presents under the tree," I assured her, "I would open them."
At 11:58, I convinced Sannah with an H and Maria to put on boots and coats and join me outside to wait for the New Year. We stood under the cold, clear skies and watched fireworks bloom on all three sides of our vision. Every star stood out as crisp dots on blue velvet, joined by golden paper lanterns floating across the dark sky, across Orion and his belt, far above our heads. The three of us whooped and danced and shouted at the top of our lungs as the clock struck twelve, and the New Year settled into our bones. By then, the frosty air had found us through our layers, and we beat a retreat inside to find Linus with his baby girl, fast sleep in his lap. He had seen in the New Year holding his seven-week-old daughter by the hand.
2011 was an awesome year, a year of firsts. I began it in America and ended it in the north of Sweden, high atop the world (all the better to see you). The second half of the year involved great change, required adjustments to a world suddenly apart from Academia, which has required of me that I take on a variety of roles. Starting in August, I became grunt labour for the church, a Sunday school teacher, sound technician, youth leader, and a part of the worship team. I have started a prayer group, dabbled in the mysterious martial arts of kyokushinkai, sung solo, blogged consistently, become an editor for Peoplearenotforsale, improved my photography skills, and wrote a book about my father's travels in the far reaches of Asia. With this in mind, I can only eagerly anticipate the Captain Hooks of this next year, facing the arrows of outrageous fortune and coming to fisticuffs with the challenges of the world.
I hope that this New Year finds you too on the cusp of some daring and foolhardy exploit. As you consider embarking on this voyage, weighing the odds and ends of moving forward into the undiscovered country, I can only tell you what a very wise friend of mine once told me: Never cease to adventure.
"Make yourself at home," said Sannah with an H, the host of the evening, ushering us into the living room.
"If there were presents under the tree," I assured her, "I would open them."
At 11:58, I convinced Sannah with an H and Maria to put on boots and coats and join me outside to wait for the New Year. We stood under the cold, clear skies and watched fireworks bloom on all three sides of our vision. Every star stood out as crisp dots on blue velvet, joined by golden paper lanterns floating across the dark sky, across Orion and his belt, far above our heads. The three of us whooped and danced and shouted at the top of our lungs as the clock struck twelve, and the New Year settled into our bones. By then, the frosty air had found us through our layers, and we beat a retreat inside to find Linus with his baby girl, fast sleep in his lap. He had seen in the New Year holding his seven-week-old daughter by the hand.
2011 was an awesome year, a year of firsts. I began it in America and ended it in the north of Sweden, high atop the world (all the better to see you). The second half of the year involved great change, required adjustments to a world suddenly apart from Academia, which has required of me that I take on a variety of roles. Starting in August, I became grunt labour for the church, a Sunday school teacher, sound technician, youth leader, and a part of the worship team. I have started a prayer group, dabbled in the mysterious martial arts of kyokushinkai, sung solo, blogged consistently, become an editor for Peoplearenotforsale, improved my photography skills, and wrote a book about my father's travels in the far reaches of Asia. With this in mind, I can only eagerly anticipate the Captain Hooks of this next year, facing the arrows of outrageous fortune and coming to fisticuffs with the challenges of the world.
I hope that this New Year finds you too on the cusp of some daring and foolhardy exploit. As you consider embarking on this voyage, weighing the odds and ends of moving forward into the undiscovered country, I can only tell you what a very wise friend of mine once told me: Never cease to adventure.
3 comments:
Love love love the title. :)
happy new year! sounds like you had a great one! love the title of this post :)
Thank you! The title of this post comes from Peter Pan, though he satas "to die would be an awfully big adventure," but maybe you already knew that. :)
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