Dear 2018… (and goodbye 2017)

Dear 2018,

Welcome! I hope you’ve packed your largest suitcase with good vibes and clear sailing for the months ahead. Here’s something you should know about me. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the idea of you, the beginning of a new year. There’s something to be said for a clean slate. The very idea of a clean slate. No, there’s nothing profound or magical about flipping the calendar from December to January, but the beginning of a new year feels entirely different to me.

Oh, the anticipation.

The suspense. What will you bring, 2018?

Dear 2018, we’ve not yet met and already I find you to be hope-filled, fresh and bright bringing me the priceless gift of days and weeks and months to get things accomplished.

You are my favorite journal filled with blank pages waiting to be filled with words yet to be written. Books yet to be read. Ideas yet to be thought.

2017, if you’re eavesdropping, I’m sorry to say you already feel extraordinarily stale, so last year. Like a stretched-out sweater, you know, the one I thought would be my go-to, go-with-everything miracle item, the sweater to make my eyes greener and my body ten pounds lighter. In reality, you pilled and pulled and faded after the first hand-washing, or worse, you shrunk two sizes even though I followed the instructions on your scratchy tag.

That’s you, 2017.

Dear readers: I don’t know about you, but the last week of the year always feels like a blur. As the curtain begins to fall on 2017,  I’m never sure of the day or the date until I wake on the other side of New Year’s Eve and everything is calm and bright and new.

A few things I’m working on during this last week: finishing edits on a short story I plan to soon enter in a contest; getting ready for a NYE get together with a few friends (which includes lots of cooking and baking); morphing my Christmas decor into NYE decor; deciding on my One Little Word for 2018 (stay tuned!); reading; and trying to stay warm.

I wish you peace, prosperity, health, and happiness in the year ahead.

Dear 2018, I think we’re all ready for you. I know I am.

Happy New Year’s Eve Eve,

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]Dear 2018. I’m ready for you. Last Friday of 2017.[/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing:
What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?, Postmodern Jukebox, Rayon Owen & Olivia Kuper Harris