New Year

An optimist stays up to see the New Year in. A pessimist waits to make sure the old one leaves.
~Bill Vaughan


Each new day is a blank page in the diary of your life. The secret of success is in turning that diary into the best story you possibly can.
~Douglas Pagels, A Wonderful Resolution For The New Year!


“Another fresh new year is here . . .
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!

This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest . . .
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!

I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree,
And sing more joyful songs!”
~William Arthur Ward


“New Year's eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights”
~Hamilton Wright Mabie


“For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice.”
~T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding II


“The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul”
~G. K. Chesterton


A happy New Year! Grant that I
May bring no tear to any eye
When this New Year in time shall end
Let it be said I've played the friend,
Have lived and loved and labored here,
And made of it a happy year.
~Edgar Guest


One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: To rise above the little things.
~John Burroughs


Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.
~Benjamin Franklin


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I've never been one to make New Year's resolutions. Over the past few years, I've barely even taken notice of the transition into the New Year. A couple days ago, I would have told you I'm not feeling anything special about the change to 2009, either.

And yet, this morning, I just find myself reading all these quotes, and feeling grateful for the chance for a fresh start, even if it is just a number on a calendar. A lot has happened this year - a lot of good things, and some really frustrating things, and some things I haven't even really talked about publicly. There's a lot I still want to improve about myself. Maybe this year, I'll see a lot of changes for the positive. But I'm still not going to make a formal resolution- that's just asking for a self-imposed guilt trip! ;)

But no matter what the case may be, I truly hope the coming year brings an abundance of happiness and love, despite any trials that may come our way. And not just for me, but for all of you who are my family and friends.

Happy 2009!