A New Year’s Wish

Dear Friends,

After weeks of rain I woke up this morning, the first of the new year, to a very fierce sun streaming through the curtains, the kind of sun which promises much but rarely lasts. Whether it does or doesn’t shall not be my greatest concern. Here is my first wish: I will enjoy it while it lasts.

After weeks of compulsive excess, overeating, drinking more than is advisable, grabbing another chocolate and another biscuit, weeks of large meals, just because ‘tradition’ demands it, the time has come to slow down, taste the small pleasures of an occasional chocolate, savour a glass of wine and stop eating before I feel bloated and uncomfortable. My second wish: I will rediscover moderation.

The current festive season brought with it fewer social gatherings than ever before. There was a time when I would have felt slighted, when not being part of the social whirl would have been keenly felt; not this year. Whatever the reason for fewer invitations, I have not missed the overcrowded rooms, the noise and sheer boredom of chitchat and small talk endlessly repeated. For my third wish I hope to remember to appreciate true friendship instead of empty social obligations.

These days my life is like a clear and peaceful stream; it wasn’t always like that and there were times when I was in danger of being swept away by troubled waters and the turmoil of battle; I thank providence for the great change in my fortunes and sincerely wish that I remind myself of the hard times whenever I feel tempted to bewail the uniformity of life as it is.

Having been a little 'under the weather' both metaphorically and physically, and therefore confined to my four walls for most of the time, with the exception of quick dashes out for Millie’s sake, my mood has been less than sunny; irritation, annoyance and depression have occasionally been part of the general atmosphere. Beloved, being nearest  in the line of fire, bore the brunt of my foul temper. We always made up, of course, but my fifth wish is to learn to curb my temper and certainly not lash out at the one person without whom my life would be a very sad affair.

Everyday life is a mixed business, we cannot have everything we want and it behoves us to be satisfied with what we have and accept what we cannot change. I’ve tried moaning and complaining, it made not a jot of difference. Fate turns the wheel whether we laugh or cry; besides, I would get bored with endless sunshine and a permanent full moon in the sky. We none of us know what fate has in store for us, but one thing is certain, the curtain must and will come down. My last wish is therefore to live every day in the full awareness of the finality of existence, take each day’s lesson to the next, take pleasure when and where it’s offered, and accept that even the rain has a rightful place in the scheme of things.

Happy New Year