For years now I have somehow managed to escape the holiday madness by hiding on the residue of a volcanic hiccup in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The days here, like those back home, pass differently, though predictably.
The sun rises to the cool morning trills of Amakihi and Kiwikiu birds, surely nature’s perfect alarm clock. As morning warms to afternoon, the whirl of the globe sends the Pacific waves crashing along the shore. Bodies lie strewn across the glittering sand, toasting brown, then browner, under the island sun. Occasional clouds provide a welcome shower and shadowy respite from the blaze, soon followed by the end of day marked by everyone’s rush seaside.
Sunset in Hawaii.
Despite the moniker, those drawn to the water’s edge invariably witness not the sun going down, but the islands turning their back on it’s tangerine glow. Tick by tick, we watch quietly as the minutes pass effortlessly from our grasp — no clutch strong enough to hold them. The fireball disappears before our very eyes, leaving in its wake only amber and lavender clouds.
Another day gone, we turn our thoughts to what lies ahead for the next. The plans we’ve made. The thing’s we’ve yet to accomplish. Tomorrow I will do what I did not do today — pay bills, go to the grocery store, and finally mail that (now belated) birthday gift that has sat on my entryway table for two weeks. We make our promises. We set our resolve.
The earth’s yearly passage around the orange orb is not quite so stark as its daily revolution, but it evokes much of the same. Promises of a better us in the days and weeks to come. Better eating habits, better exercise plan, finishing some long-awaited project or finding a new job. In addition, coming full circle around the sun often tempts us to resurrect all that has transpired in the last twelve months — some of it glorious, some of it less so. We have experienced both boundless joy and seemingly insurmountable challenges. Yet we have all made it to here. Together.
And now?
Now we press onward as before, knowing that nothing behind us can ever be changed, and nothing before us is ever certain. We will resolve to do better, for ourselves and for each other. And we will keep our promises, in whole or in part. But the coming year needs no more than our pledge to welcome each dawn as another chance to become our truest and best selves. Each pass of the sun across our landscape, wherever we are, gives us the chance to bring life in close — nurturing and tending our garden of family and friends as never before. Each new day gifts us as well with another chance to make our voices heard across our collective communities, from our school boards to Pennsylvania Avenue. We can, by our efforts together, bring about the change we want to see in ourselves, and in the world.
So as we resolve to cut back on our carbs and get to the gym more often, let us also resolve, together, to #Resist #Persist and #StayInvolved.
Welcome, New Year.
We’re ready.