Every year as the calendar page turns from one to the next, we are showered in "best of" lists from books to songs, movies to television series.  We're reminded of the famous who've passed, the events that drew our attention, and the stories, good and bad, that clogged our news feeds.  We’re fed retrospectives of the year in pictures, TikToks, and Tweets.  There are analyses of what the previous January through December wrought on the political, cultural, social, and economic landscape and predictions on what the future twelve will hold. 

This same opportunity for reflection and consideration presents itself around significant life events.  This year, I have both on the same day.  My daughter Samantha will be married on New Year's Eve.  The wedding was originally scheduled for the same date last year, but it was derailed like so many others by a head-on collision with covid restrictions.  Instead of a limited ceremony and reception on the original date or trying to predict when in 2021 the chains of government conditions would lift, she and her fiancé Jake decided to move it ahead a year.  Although this year's date is unfortunately not without its illness-related cancellations and adaptations, the show, as they say, will go on.

During the past few weeks, when I'm not reading my year-end lists and year to come predictions, I've reflected on my and Samantha's past and thought about our future.  Joyful memories of birthdays, holidays, and vacations.  The first days of school and graduations.  Squeals of delight, peals of laughter, and hugs that grew from tiny little arms to the embrace of a grown woman.  Life’s not all sunshine and roses.  There were tears and shouts, mistakes, miscommunications, and misunderstandings on both our parts.  But I am blessed with far more sunny days than cloudy, and flowering rose bushes overshadow a few crushed petals and broken stems in my memory garden.  I love my daughter with every fiber of my being.  Looking ahead, I see opportunities for days of sunshine and blooming roses in Samantha and Jake’s lives, for our bond as a father and daughter to grow, and joy for our expanding families. 

End-of-year reflections and predictions are limited in scope and are consequently limited in the analyses of their impacts.  Literature is not defined by a finite number of books or cinema on a single year's films.  The balance of good and bad events may skew one way or another to label a year.  But history is a collective.  Days, weeks, months, and years build decades and centuries.  Just as long-term relationships are not defined by a single joyful exchange or blunt argument, society’s future is not pre-determined by the tangled mess or angry conflicts of a single year.   

Champagne is a traditional celebratory drink.  The pop of the cork and its effervescence are symbols of pleasure and potential.  During the wedding reception, we'll raise our champagne-filled glasses twice.  Early in the evening, the first time will be to Samantha and Jake.  To their future, its hope and promise, and the happiness born out of growing families.  The second, moments before midnight, will be to the New Year.  But during this one, I'll be thinking beyond the calendar year to the decades ahead.  To Samantha and Jake's generation and the generations that follow.  To the hope and promise they bring to all of us.  That the sweet wine of time will temper the acid taste of today. 

Let’s raise our glasses to peace and prosperity for all.  To not only a happy new year but delight that lasts a lifetime. 

And another season of Yellowstone and a new Stephen King thriller.  Hey, I have my lists too.