An Open Letter To New Year’s Eve

I must say, I feel a bit silly writing to you like this. After all, you’re not really a person, are you? Letters are written to people — people who can talk and feel and breathe. You’re none of those things. You’re just another day on the calendar. One out of 365 of them, actually. And you come around, well, just like clockwork. Year after year.

So, no, you are most definitely not a person. You’re more of an annual event — one I’ve experienced some 30 times in my life. You don’t have any power over me. Did you hear that, New Year’s Eve? Did you? You don’t have any power over me. Zilch. Zero.

And yet…I am writing to you. Today. Less than 24 hours until the chimes (and that huge ball in Times Square) ring in a new year. 2013. Sounds sort of like the future, doesn’t it? I mean, it IS the future. Tomorrow could be the first day of the rest of my life. And yes, that scares me a little. OK, sometimes it scares me a lot. Like I’m standing on my own sort of cliff, just staring down into…nothing. The bottom of the cliff seems to go on forever, leading to some sort of black hole vortex that’s bound to change you. Forever. You don’t want to jump, but for some reason, you can’t move away from the ledge. It’s scary, freeing, wild and intoxicating all at the same time.

Because when I sit back and think about you — really think about you — I realize something about you, New Year’s Eve: You’re both a blessing and a curse. You’re probably the only day of the year that people love and dread simultaneously. When they think about you in relation to the year that just passed, it can be downright depressing. I’ll be the first to admit that. But when you stop and think of what’s ahead — all the possibilities that go along with a new year — well, it can just fills your heart with hope and promise.

And that’s exactly what you, New Year’s Eve, have always symbolized for me. A new beginning, full of promise and hope and wonder. I wonder what you have in store for me in 2013. I can’t help but wonder what’s just beyond that ledge. So, 2013, I’m ready for you! Bring on your adventures that will become tomorrow’s magical memories! xoxo

[Photos via We Heart It]