Posted by Rich on January 01, 2002 at 05:38:47:
In Reply to: happppyyyyyyy NEW YEAR!!!! Blessings to ALL posted by Ye Olde Towne Crier on December 31, 2001 at 16:01:32:
: RING RING RING RING!!!!
: ring a linga ring!!!
: and ring ring ring again!!!
: Happy 2002 to all and Sundry!
: Much Luck, Love, Light, and Laughter!!!
: Forever and One Day!!!!
: TOO Early in the night to be tipsy,
: Ye Olde Towne Crier
Well, you surely MUST be tipsy by now, TC!
Me? Nah! Though I was up past midnight [for the first time in many a New Year's Eve!!!], and up before 5:30 [yeah, confirmed Early Bird], there's no tipsy in me. It was strictly popcorn & hot apple cider for me as I watched the ball come down in Times Square, ventured out into the cold night air to catch a glimpse of Jupiter, and welcomed in 2002 - a most welcomed sight!!!! - with a passle of young kids, all under 12, and all mine!
So, in the relative quiet of the house, what with only a wife and six young 'uns around [my two teen-aged boys off at the pad of my newlywed son for a get-together] I was able to reflect on this past year & anticipate the coming one ...
2001 - What a disaster. Led, of course, by the events of September 11. The above photo was taken by my cousin, Stevie, from the NE corner of West Broadway & Chamber Streets. He was at Starbucks that morning, sipping coffee, when the attack fell upon us. As long as I've known Stevie, and that would be for nearly 50 years, I can always recall seeing him with a camera bag hanging at his side. September 11 would be no different. To see photos of this through the eyes of one with whom I wrestled with, played ball with, hiked the woods with, ate many a Sunday dinner at Grandma's with, brought it all home for me ... again. I would think that this event profoundly affected all Americans, and many around the World. It surely did me. A brother-in-law actually IN the World Trade Center complex, escaped, dirty but alive. A high school classmate, not so lucky, killed. A cousin just blocks away. I have had no choice but to take this attack very personally, and I get down on my knees and thank God that we have a President who did so as well. I have always found great emotion & pride in some of the truly patriotic events of the past, but now, thanks to some demented terrorist Islamic fundamentalists, I feel, for the very first time, a closeness to the World War II veteran [civilian & military] that had been lacking before. I can feel that surge of outrage and pride they must've felt after Pearl Harbor and beyond. I will never forget that cold feeling of fear at the realization that we were under attack, coupled with this overwhelming sense of duty that made me feel like I just had to do something to fight back. I can truly understand, for the first time, their utter disgust at me, and fellow anti-war protesters, during the Vietnam era. Not that I feel I was wrong, for surely, I don't - not in that case. But I can finally see and feel the circumstances from their point of view. And that's a good thing for me.
2002 - I resolve, and I hope we all have, to not forget the feelings of that horrible day, and not to rest until Justice has been fully delivered. There can be no wavering on this. It is ugly work that must be done.
2001 - Mohicanland became a very upsetting place. Lack of dialogue and a failure to acknowledge root problems, on my part and on the part of others, caused deep wounds, bad feelings, and eventually a split. Some moved away to form an off-shoot; for some the chaos was too painful and they more or less vanished to higher, safer ground. Some remained to pick up the pieces. I don't know what very many others feel, or say they feel, about all this. For me, though, I freely admit to feeling remorse at the failure to communicate, at the schizm that caused, and at the lack of any real solid attempts at reconcilation. It has been a very sad thing for me, as it may have been for you.
2002 - I am going to make every attempt to patch every wound that was caused by all of this. I will fail, I know that, but it is the very least I can do. In the end, you can only do what you can do. And, one never knows ...
2001 - On the Home Front: No details here, but it was far from being my favorite year, as some of you know.
2002 - No details here :), but suffice it to say that I am married to [and have been for 22 years] the brightest, wittiest, sexiest, woman I know. She is an unbelievable mother, a hard worker, great cook, keeps things together under circumstances that would topple most all of us ... I have no choice here, really ...
Hey, it's not so bad ... at least none of us is slinking around in a cave somewhere [none that I know of, anyway ...]!
Happy New Year All!