The New Year

I always get to New Year's Eve with such a feeling of anticipation, of expectation and wonder for the new year to come. A whole new year. There is something relaxing and invigorating about that, particularly for me, a person who frequently operates in very specific segments of time. I try not to read too much into it all, not letting the way I spend my New Year's Eve color my outlook in the upcoming year, but for once not being able to do that has turned out to be a good thing. At least I think it will turn out that way.
I went to the Minnesota Wild hockey game tonight with my good friend Matthew. We did this last year as well, although the difference this year was that he had to leave and drive back to Iowa to catch a plane in the morning. It was a very fun day, replete with ice skating this morning, but the fact that his visit ended before midnight seems telling to me. I hope to leave "him" in 2007, and look forward rather than backwards in 2008. It's probably something that should have happened earlier, something that didn't need a new year to usher in, but sometimes things just take longer than I expect (or want) them to take. And realizing that too is as much of a new beginning as anything.