Of all the “holidays” that we, as a society, celebrate, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are the most “modern”.

Devoid of any pretense of meaning that underlies our celebrations of Christmas, Hanukah, Saturnalia, Yule, Samhain, or Kwanzaa;

“New Years” is unabashedly artificial,

A placeholder for revelry and sadness based on the turning of a page (clicking of a tab?) on a calendar.

It is a cipher,

the only importance being that which we give it, a holiday made for keepers of records in which humanity celebrates an arbitrary span of survival.

However,

This most empty of days allows (if you are in a certain mindset) a pause,

A stop in the constant motion of the mind, to look back to where we’ve been, look at where we are, and look ahead to where we want to be.

Most importantly, it gives a chance to look around and see who we are traveling this road with.

So pause with me, sit on the grass (or a rock or a stump), open a bottle of your favorite beverage (whatever it may be), and let’s remember the road taken and those with whom we walked.

Smile and hug those on the road with us now, smile, cry, and pour a bit of drink out for those no longer on the road with us, and resolve to travel into the future only with those whom we love.

If you are reading this, we are walking together, welcome to OUR road.