Rescue Journal

I just figured out that New Years is not just an excuse to party.

Alison  ·  Jan. 1, 2007

I am not a huggy, kissy, happy new year party girl. never was, never will be. That whole joyful celebration of a brand new year with a huge party of not that well known people just never did anything for me except make me feel somehow uncomfortable and somehow untrue.

But, today for the very first time, as i sit here alone, I feel the significance of a whole new year before us and a whole old year behind us and I feel good. When I look back on 2006 I see a long, sometimes frustrating, sometimes exciting road of challenge. I see the days of darkness and the days of blinding light. I see the grey days inbetween that sometimes were not that noteworthy except that there were many of them and we made it thru them the best that we could. Most days in life really are not all that dramatic, just the same old, same old things we have to do each and every day.

But in retrospect, when I look at our 2006 memory and adopted pages and I remember the smell and the feel of each and every one of them, and I look at the ones here right now, and 2006 added up into a pretty good year.

I see before me another year of some devastating losses, not even ever hopeful me can believe that Jack, or Bill, or Moses or Michael or Cedric, or our brand new lovely, Handsome Dexter will make it thru another whole year. And with the cats, you just never know when they will surprise you and tough it out or quit the game. Spritely, so beautiful and gleaming yet so very fragile in just one critical way may make it, but maybe not.

And who will come in this new yet unlived year, to touch our hearts and make us laugh and bring us tears of sorrow? What human friends will we meet to help us care for them, and to share their strength, and who become such an integral part of our family? What human or animal will walk thru our gates and find that bridge of hope and belonging? Will we continue to move forward and meet our goals? And will the dreams we dream at night become real so that we can grow and dream some more?

I think until today, I missed the whole point of New Years. It is a celebration of the journey past and the journey yet to be.

Happy New Years everyone, it really is a very good day. Sometimes I am kind of slow and figuring out what the rest of the world already knows!

Comments

Deb

OOPS! I thought I had lost this response in the "Saints Welcomes Handsome Dexter" post. Sorry for dual replies.

Deb

Of course "Handsome Dexter" will soon morph into "Sexy Dexy". He sounds like a typical SAINT....absolutely beautiful.

Pat B

Happy New Year to you and your wonderful SAINTS family, Carol. The thing to remember is although some of your family have gone to the Rainbow Bridge before you had hoped they would, you have surrounded them with love and caring, in some cases for the first time in their lives. The quality of their sometimes all too short lives has been so enhanced and they knew that they were special and not "some thing to cast aside" when they were no longer useful to their human. What you are doing is so important and so meaningful.
Hope that 2007 proves to be the best year yet for SAINTS and its amazing family!
Pat B

Rae

Happy New Year Carol and all the wonderful volunteers of Saints!!! You have created a truely heavenly place for the misplaced and medically fragile angels in your care. Whether the time they each spend with you is long or short you make the last step in their journey peaceful and full of love. Thank you for that!!!!!