For Auld Lang Syne?

Around 5 am this morning, when sleep was eluding me, I started to wonder what was keeping me up. My mind fell upon the idea that perhaps I had some anxiety related to the changing of the calendar. Silly I know, but that is how my mind works. (ok, how my mind works is actually material for a at the very least a short story and at the very most a novel) Then, because being awake at 5 am when I can sleep until 8 am is not bad enough- Auld Lang Syne started playing on a loop in my head. I started to think about what it meant...and found myself scratching my head because I really didn't know.

Every year we hear, or perhaps sing (if you've had a few pints)-

May old acquaintance be forgot
and never brought to mind
May old acquaintance be forgot
and auld lang syne
For Auld Lang Syne my dear
For Auld Lang Syne
May old acquaintance be forgot
For Auld Lang Syne

What does that mean? May we forget the people we know for days gone by? Huh? Forget, remember? Which one?

I say, both.

As 2009 winds down to it final hours...I'm thinking that there are some things I'd like to forget...resentment, anger, sadness, bitterness, disappoint and fear. I don't want to forget the lessons I learned from those things. Like not to judge, or to ask for what I need, and most of all that everybody is working with their own set of assets and liabilities, and you truly can never, never know what its like to be in another person's shoes- so give people the benefit of the doubt. You and I are more alike than I realize. I learned in 2009 that family is who you choose. And that years and miles don't get in your way if you don't let them. I opened up to my past a bit, and my future was made brighter by it. I forgave old hurts, and let bygones be bygones, and I made boundaries and set limits. All of those things have truly made 2009 my best year yet. No really. I mean it. I forgave some hurts that dated back to high school. Mended some fences that went back that far too. I didn't do it all gracefully, or perfectly, but I took risks and tried. And in the end, I think that's all that really counts.

As far as for "old times sake"- I think that its about letting go of old ideas that don't work, and embracing new ones that do. About myself, other people, and what I and perhaps we can accomplish. It's also about honoring the past, learning from it, not forgetting about it. I have hit some milestones in 2009 - and by my side were the friends who have enriched and sometimes even saved my life, as well as my family - who has always loved me, even when I was utterly unlikable.

I am especially grateful to a friend who I haven't seen or spoken to (except via facebook) in over 20 years who has inspired me to start this blog. His courage to pursue his dreams and forsake some of the goals and values we were taught as kids - the ones like work hard, make money, get a big house, acquire stuff- has touched me deeply, and given me the idea that I could start pursuing my dream, of writing, right here, right now. (Obviously, this is not literature, and I'm not the next Steinbeck, Hemingway, Irving or even Lamb) but its the beginning. Who knows where I"ll end up from here. I hope you'll check in from time to time, and maybe even let me know what you think.

The world is in interesting shape- is it not? Financial insecurity, political unrest, weird obsessions with celebrities and the minutiae of their personal lives (mea culpa, mea culpa) perversion of religion to garner hate and war...doesn't sound too promising does it? Yet, more and more there are people, in ones and twos and tens who are embracing a different kind of thinking. This thinking is on a higher plane- more about the spirit than the corporeal - about how we can bring more peace and love and light to the world - and it gives me a lot of hope.

So to new and old acquaintances, family and friends- may you begin 2010 with hope, and love and comfort. And if you can bring those things to someone else- all the better.