Not Funny

They say that how you begin your new year is how your year will proceed.

I spent New Year's Eve playing my harp, celebrating among wonderful friends old and new, and applauding the accomplishments of fellow musicians. I was home safe by 12:30 a.m. New Year's morning, contemplating quietly with a cup of hot tea, surrounded by kitties. Good start.

I thought about how I would sum up everything I had done in 2009 and everything I wanted in 2010. "Behold, I make all things new" came to mind, and I kept that quote from Revelation with me for a while. Yes, newness. All things new. THAT was my new year's wish.

But perhaps I should have clarified. Because within the first few days of January, this came to pass...

~ My coffee pot died.
~ Two light bulbs blew out as I walked past.
~ My microwave began to super-heat parts of my food, leaving the rest stone cold.
~ My truck wouldn't start on the day of the Kortuem Christmas Extravaganza. Wonderful Denny of DK Repair in Mankato picked me up in his pink (yes, pink) tow truck, distracted me from crying with his witty repartee and with chocolate, fixed my vehicle in record time while I sat in his shop and asked him too many questions, and sent me on my way...with a $450 bill. You gotta love a guy with a pink tow truck and a chocolate stash in his shop, but still.

If this was some kind of cosmic joke, it's not funny. So let me clarify to the universe right now: by "all things new" I did NOT mean a new coffee pot, new light bulbs, a new microwave, a new car battery or a new car starter. I meant new experiences, new opportunities, new adventures. Newness that is a culmination of all the work I have done, newness that will be symbolized by the harvesting of what I've planted. All clear?

As for the way in which we start the year carrying through its duration, let's hope "they" are wrong, at least this year.