I toast the New Year

This new years eve is no fun for either of us. Unfortunately, I'm in the middle of a doozy of a cold. Between the headache, body aches, sniffles, and sore throat, I can hardly function. I feel bad for Jeff but I can't do any better than I am. It's really that bad.

I did decide that we should continue some traditions. Usually we have a nice dinner, scallops and steak, wine and nice desserts, candles and romance. But tonight he will do the cooking, probably chicken on the grill. The kids will probably join us, and that will be that. So what's left in the tradition department? The hot tub. We go soak at midnight and ring in the new year with a toast. We enjoy the bubbles of the tub under the stars with the chill in the air.

To add something good to the night (since I've been so ill), I thought we should open a bottle of champagne. We've had a bottle in the fridge for 25 years now. I don't know why I hung on to it for so long. I won it at my company Christmas party the first year I was employed there.

As we opened the bottle, the top sort of flopped off to the ground. No big pop, no overflow of bubbly. A little anti-climatic if you ask me. So we sat in the water sipping the champagne. It was quite a surprise after all. It was delicious. I am not a big fan of the bubbly but this was very yummy. As we sat there watching the stars, feeling the fresh air chill on our faces. thoughts of the years that passed while this bottle sat in the fridge went through my mind. Flashes of things that happened in that time crossed my mind like a slide-show in fast motion. From winning that bottle of wine to losing that job, from the birth of my third child to the death of my brother, from the fat me to the slimmed down me. There was so much that happened during that time, so much happiness and so much sadness. It was getting harder to finish the champagne. There seemed to be so much time value in that bottle that I regretted opening it and opening all those memories. I felt a pang of sorrow for the time that has passed as well as the loss of this bottle in my fridge.

Time marches on, the new year is upon us and it's time to continue making those memories. Hopefully there will be more good than bad. Here's a toast to the next bottle I open in another 25 years.