Old Hollywood Inspired

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

I hope you’ve all had a good start to 2015. After a few years of going out for New Year’s Eve, Terry and I decided to spend this one with our families, which made for a nice, relaxing start to the year, and also gave me plenty of time to indulge in some of the maudlin introspection I’m prone to as the old year slips away. I’d spent the earlier part of the evening scrolling through my Bloglovin’ feed, and catching up with the ‘year in review’ posts everyone had published, all of which seemed to refer to huge changes, life-altering experiences and the generally wild and crazy ride 2014 had been for the authors of the posts. My 2014, meanwhile… well, it was fine.

Don’t get me wrong: there’s a lot to be said for fine. I consider any year in which nothing bad happened to be a pretty good one, and, by that standard, 2014 was definitely better than fine. While last year seems to have heralded some pretty major changes for so many of you, however, I feel a bit like my year was spent standing still, treading water… er, mixing metaphors, apparently. And as I said, I can’t really complain about that, but as the clock struck midnight I found myself hoping this year will be a little bit more than just fine, and that when I look back on it, 12 months from now, I’ll have some landmark moments of my own to remember.

It’s exciting, the start of a new year, because absolutely anything could happen, and isn’t that an amazing thought? It’s also a little bit scary, though, because, well, anything could happen, and isn’t that just a terrifying thought, too? I may not be a fan of New Year, however, but I’m a sucker for a fresh start and, on January 1st, as I got ready for the traditional New Year’s Day dinner, I found myself listening to Counting Crows’ A Long December on repeat. It’s one of my favourite songs of all time, and different lines from it have had special meaning for me at different points in my life, but yesterday morning it was the last line of the final verse that stood out: “I can’t remember all the times I tried to tell myself / to hold on to these moments as they pass.”

I’ve never been the type to make lists of resolutions, but if I had to name one goal for this year – and for this blog, come to think of it – I guess that would be it: to hold on to these moments as they pass.*

2014 was a long December. But as the song says, maybe this year will be better than the last.

*Also to lose those extra few Christmas pounds and write a book. Well, they can’t ALL be vague, poetic-sounding goals, can they?