My earliest memory of New
Year’s Eve is sleeping on my couch waiting for the clock to turn midnight. My
mother promised to wake me beforehand so we can watch the countdown. My
grandmother was over and also falling asleep while we waited for Dick Clark to
tell us when that ball will drop. I think my father was working overnight
shifts then because I don’t remember him there. My brother wasn’t born yet so
this makes me about three or four years old. I can even remember the blue
nightgown I had on.
As I grew older, there
would be other New Year’s where neighbors would come over and we would yell and
holler out on our stoops and bang pots and pans. Brooklyn was always great
growing up for New Years and the Fourth of July for big celebrations. When we
finally got classy enough to buy noisemakers I loved getting to be the one who
took them out of the plastic bag every year and hand them out before midnight.
Between elementary school
and high school there were the years that family friends came over. New Year's
Day was always reserved for family.
When I was in high school
there was a blizzard and while I was snowed in with my best friend we played
cards for so long we actually missed New Year’s Eve countdown and all.
Then there was the year my
college friends and I went away to a ski resort even though I hate skiing just
so we could party.
Finally there was the year
I turned twenty-one (in December, just in time) and I made it my mission to
party in NYC. I didn’t go near Times Square but to a party at a bar and had a
blast. That was one and done and off my bucket list.
There is a reason most New
Yorkers don’t go and watch the ball drop. We don’t want to be outside in the cold with
drunks from two in the afternoon, without being able to move or go to the
bathroom for the next twelve hours, and then figure out how to get out of the
fire hazard to get home. So not fun.
Another tip for outer
owners, unless you have prepaid for a party in the city at a venue, do not go
out until after midnight. Drink at your hotel or at a friends place. After
midnight bars will drop their cover charges way down some even down to zero.
Drinks too will be cheaper. Trust me drinking at 11:57 for $25 a pop is not any
more fun than at 12:05 for $15. But that’s just my advice. Now you have
information, so go with God.
Now-a-days I have reverted
back to the occasional house party but more often having neighbors and friends
over. I work New Year’s Eve and don’t drink because of my migraine meds so I
like to keep it light. Plus after a certain age partying on a Monday isn’t
exciting anymore. Yes I am officially old.
But it is fun to reminisce
and think back to all of the years I have been counting down.
It is sad this will be the
first year without Dick Clark. The last few years I have been watching Anderson
Cooper because I adore him but I am always forced to change the channel back to
hear Dick Clark come on and watch the countdown on that channel. It is just
tradition.
This year will be
bittersweet as the ABC Channel is airing a special reflecting back on Dick
Clark’s life and career from 8pm-10pm, before the New Year’s shows start. It
will be a way of still including him in the celebrations.
But Dick Clark isn’t the
only one missing from tonight’s events.
As we grow older we loose
family members and outgrow friends, and as this is a holiday that bookends the closing
of a season of reflection and rituals it is important to remember how we want
to commemorate and why.
We are saying goodbye to
one year and moving forward to another with hope and the promises we make to
ourselves for improvement.
There is the mystery of
the unknown and the wonderment of where we will be this time next year. We will
develop closer ties with loved ones, perhaps those we don’t even know yet.
Traditions and
celebrations go on no matter who is the left to carry them on.
For that we
cheer, kiss, and break out the kitchenware.
For a Love Story Only Dick
Clark Could Create:
For New Year’s Eve Fun
Facts:
Well done.. Lets hope this year brings more love, luck and happiness and a better road to more painless days. xoxo
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