A Blank Page

The start of a new year is a blank page.  I happen to like blank pages; they are exciting, a challenge, and a mystery.  How will they be filled?  What will be written?  Comedy, drama, pathos, some of each?  As much as I take comfort in routine, I like not knowing how even a day will turn out.  There is always something unexpected in what might otherwise be humdrum.  Over time, I've come to realize that the one constant in life is change.  Good, bad, or indifferent, nothing stays the same.  We have to turn the page to find out what comes next.

Joel and Judy outdid themselves with a prime rib dinner last night, including creamed spinach a la Lawry's.  Lawry's is an old Los Angeles restaurant with which we were all familiar, serving prime rib brought tableside in big, covered, silver rolling carts, always with creamed spinach on the side.  I was taken there many times as a child.  I think Joel did the meat and spinach every bit as well as the chefs at Lawry's, and I ate every bite.  How nice it was to enjoy New Year's Eve with Joel, Judy, and Shari, champagne toasts included!

Time has taken its toll.  For years and years the Kids and I would call each other at midnight to wish Happy New Year.  Now we've agreed without comment to make those calls a lot earlier; none of us going out to party; none (or few) staying up until midnight.  The Times Square ball drops without us.

The sun is just rising here on January 1, 2013.  I wonder what today will bring.