Dear Diary,
It’s January 1, 2023. I don’t know about the others who submit diary entries but to me the day I diary is always impacted by the prior day and the next, at a minimum. How much more does the reflection on the past and consideration of the future intrude when the day on which I am writing is the first of the year?
I think it was Winston Churchill who said, An unreflected life is not worth living. To often I don’t reflect, appreciate, or savor a given day. Its just one in a rush. I blink and a week goes by. The diary assignment caused me to give thought to the activities of the day, for which I am appreciative.
So leading into January 1st with December 31st the first thought that comes to me is how grateful I am to have friends and connections. When we first moved here about 8 years ago we knew one couple. There was a lot of alone time and frankly being bored not knowing what to do. A clear memory of a Friday night with my wife sitting on the sofa trying to decide what to do with the weekend, as we were not just going to stay in the house, comes to mind.
So to welcome in New Years a friend invited to their house. About 11 others were there. We spent part of December 31st getting ready for our part for the party, some cooking, loading up a card table, etc. We got there about 5:00. The party slowly got underway.
The host had on college football games. Sports, as a whole, has lost it grip on me, but these were two unusually good games. Being from Indiana, I rooted for the Big Ten teams. Michigan shot itself in the foot. Three turnovers led what could have been a relatively easy victory to a close loss. Ohio State and Georgia went toe to toe. With Ohio State needing a field goa at the end of the game to win. Georgia pulled a classic technique, call a time out to ice the field goal kicker. It worked and Georgia won.
After way to much food the host had several games planned. It allowed to pleasantly pass time, have fun and talk at the same time. We missed seeing the crystal ball fall, but still managed to get a new year’s kiss from my bride to welcome in the year.
Shortly after midnight the party broke up, we cleaned up (nice to have friends who help out in this way and don’t leave all the mess for the host), and headed home. Most of us being over 50 we are not night owls. I am never a night owl and not getting to bed until 1:00 is rare.
Slept in, which in this case was about 8:00. Some sunlight and just not used to sleeping in kept me from sleeping later. I made up for it with a nap in the afternoon.
Per usual I was up before my wife and had my normal quite time. I enjoy stillness. When I’m the first one up there is no rustling, noise from the television, or commotion to break my solitude.
I have a few devotionals I enjoy reading. The year is starting and getting wisdom from the Bible seems a good way to get it underway.
My wife got up and we watched church together on line. Church on line, who would have thought? Technology has made advances and Covid, with the forced separation of people, made it a necessity. I enjoy worshiping God in the presence of other people. There is something special about being with other people and enjoying activities, church or otherwise.
As an aside I have concerns about the younger generation who are so wired but for whom technology, and the ability to connect on line, has become a detriment. They are able to do Face Book, twitter and a bunch of other things to interact with people but lack interpersonal skills and are lonely, despite all the emails and twitters.
The weather was great, unusually warm for January. We started to get down our Christmas decorations. Much better taking down the outside lights when its almost fifty. My wife got the tree down.
We enjoy being outside and became aware of a First Day hike at Mounds State Park. We got there a bit late, as usual, even though the start time was 5:30. We will be late for our own funeral. There was a great crowd. I have never seen a Department of Natural Resources activity with such a response. I’m not a good crowd estimator but would put at 100.
So many we decided to skip the walk. It would have been nice to hear what the park ranger had to say but the size of the crowd made hearing hard and the walk would be slow. On top of that we had our dog, and wanted to take a longer walk.
So we ventured out on our own. We took the trail which rings the park, which we have often done before. We enjoyed seeing the sun slowly dissipate and darkness arrive. At first it was lighter than I would have thought but over the course of the roughly three mile walk it became quite dark. Love walking in a forest. Amazed how few people seem to get out and enjoy this opportunity.
7:30ish back to Muncie. Glad that Ruler was still open and popped in to get some frozen pizzas. Jacks, our favorite, was on sale, so loaded up with 12, two of which we polished off for supper.
Stayed up until 10:00. Watched some YouTube videos. Often on hiking, apologetics, and massage. Saw some videos on places in southern Indiana which look like would be good weekend trips to go hike around. Then the lateness of the prior night caught up with me and I gladly went off to my bed.
Nice start to what I hope to be the best year yet.