Holiday Blowback and A Southerner’s New Year’s Day Meal
One of those moments happened when I thought I lost my rings. That would be my engagement ring and wedding band, and my mother’s birthstone ring which is about 60 years old. I put them in the pocket of an apron I was wearing (yes, an ACTUAL apron!) on Christmas Eve while at my MIL’s house. I realized I didn’t have them after I got home. Panic. I called my mother in law at 11:30 p.m. and left a vm, “Don’t wash the apron, whatever you do! I’ll call you in the morning.” I called her at 7:00 a.m. No rings. She was very logical telling me I MUST have put them in another pocket. We backtracked and for the life of me, I couldn’t remember doing anything other than dropping them in the apron pocket. Until I go check my coat pocket – and there they were. And no memory of placing them there – at all. It was sort of scary when I thought about how we can be SO involved our brains just sort of takeover and do what we might be thinking sub-consciously.
Another time I was so doggone tired, I found I was doing The Things I Hate To Do. A thought would send me into one room where I’d promptly forget why I was there, so I’d start to do something else, only to leave it, go to another room, start a new thing – entirely different, leave that, move some stuff around and then end up looking for what I’d moved the rest of the day. Eventually I’d find an item where I left it hours before, and then discover those half done “things” I was also intent on finishing hours before.
Boy. That’s what I call holiday blowback.
At any rate, I hate seeing any year end as it fills me with nostalgia and the realization it’s a time we will never get back – as is every single second of our lives. Yet, on the other hand, I balance that nostalgia with the happiness and appreciation for all that I have and have accomplished. There’s an eagerness in thinking about what’s to come when the clock officially sets us at the beginning of 2017. I mean, might as well get on with it, ya know? Ain’t no stopping the clock.
Here in the south on New Year’s day, we’ll be filling our plates with greens and black-eyed peas, a tradition intended to bring one wealth and luck in the new year. The greens are said to represent dollar bills and the beans coins – so I plan to eat a lot. This dates back several hundred years although most know of it from the Civil War. You can read a bit about it here.
And with that, I’m off to start cooking my Hoppin John! Here’s to a Happy New Year!
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