Barry Manilow “Just Another New Year’s Eve”

(Yes, back in the mid 70s, I was a Barry Manilow fan. I’ve since recovered)

As I write this, people in the U.S. are beginning their prep to welcome in 2015. Parties are rising from boxes and bags, special “good luck” dinners are being cooked, candles lit (raise the energy level), etc.

Goodbye 2014.

Some folks will look back on this year remembering events of great joy such as weddings, babies, dream careers going up several notches, and the year will have been a banner for them.

Others, myself included, will not mourn its passing. For us, it has been a year of trial, loss, and in some cases, the masks being ripped away from so-called friends to show the nastiness hidden behind.

This was a year of losing what no longer served, learning who friends are, and figuring out what the lessons were I needed to learn. And figure them out, I did.

1) I got by with a LOT of help from my friends. )apologies to John, Paul, George, and Ringo)

Thanks to those who helped me quickly and efficiently leave a hostile living situation with an increasingly unstable roommate.

2) George Lucas was right. In an interview after “Return of the Jedi” was released, he referenced Joseph Campbell discussing the Ewoks: “When you’re nice to the little bunny on the side of the road…” I forget the rest of the quote, but it had to do with help from unexpected sources.

Ewok.

There are other lessons learned that I am not sharing here. Important ones, but they’re for me.

“Hey, 2015? Before you come in, we’ve got to lay down some rules…”