Everyday's the Day

So ends another year and another year begins.

What have we done with our time?

What will we do with the time before us?

Many are all about resolutions and big change this time of year and many more are just the opposite sitting in defiance against the propositions. Personally it doesn't matter to me what time of year it is. Every day is the day.

New Year's has always been a rather curious occasion to me ever since I was a child. We would spend the late afternoon into the evening in great anticipation watching Dick Clark's New Years Rocking Eve and the Times Square Ball. Then at the stroke of midnight, my mother and sister and I would bang huge pots together on the porch in the freezing weather, if we managed to stay up that late. The more noise we made the better. The grand finale was calling our grandmother Mary on the telephone and saying "Happy New Year Nanny" into the phone as loud as we could. She would reply in like kind and then off to dream land until the dawn of a new year.

When we got older, my mother, sister and I would go out for dinner religiously every New Year's Eve. We would have a few friends join us at La Fortunata in Bayonne for their famous table-side ceasar salad. THAT was special. We loved it. I enjoyed those dinners more than words can express. Looking back, I don't know why we ever stopped our gatherings there. It was a great tradition. But that was a long time ago and times change. La Fortunata is no longer there and none of us even lives in Bayonne anymore - we're all spread out now so....out with the old and in with the new.

This year Jimmy and I are going out for dinner to a local (what else?) Italian restaurant and then we're coming home early to bring in the new year together on our humble little couch. After our journey out west and hectic Christmas, we can use a little home time.

Resolutions? Nah. Every single day is a new day to shine. What a waste to wait all that time to make changes in our lives that, well, should be made today.

What's wrong with today? Nothing that I can see.

What's wrong with tomorrow? No guarantee.

This much we've learned over the years. Time is fleeting. Years are flying by. We are getting older. So, LIVE while you're alive and okay, if you need a milestone to mark your changes then December 31st, 2008 at the stroke of midnight is as good a time as any.

I hope that you're planning on loving yourself more in 2009.

I hope that you're planning on being your most loyal companion.

I hope that you're learning to trust that voice on the inside of you that only wants the best for you. You know that one that says "I love you just the way you are, right where you are, right now, unconditionally - now move forward".

I hope that you're planning on giving more than you receive in 2009. The world needs you.

I hope that you're planning on taking more risks.

I hope that you're planning on stepping out in faith for the things that you've hoped and prayed for and grabbing those things with both hands.

I hope you're planning on living every single blessed minute of your life and not wasting a second thinking thoughts that are not of love.

I hope you're planning on having fun and laughing a lot and not taking yourself or anyone else for that matter, so seriously - even when things are serious.

I hope you're planning on planting, growing and reaping more of the virtues that this world is lacking. They're all on the inside of us placed there by grace - if we'd only share our time with one another.

Yes, yes, plan. Plan like your life depends on it. Plan like there are no obstacles or illnesses or time constraints or lack. Lack of ... hmmmm ... time, money, resources or abundance. You have all that you need. If you need more, create it.

Plan to have more fun.

Plan to be more conscious.

Plan to be more.

Plan to be.

Just plan and see what you can accomplish.

God Bless You and those you love with a Happy & Most Healthy New Year!

P.S. This was the first year - Christmas and soon to be New Year - that I celebrate without my little spirit in the sky, my Mango Yoti Yoshimangasheito. I plan on loving him forever.