I vividly remember the first time I had to deal with one decade turning into another. It was New Year’s Eve 1979. Suddenly, 10-year-old me was struck by what I now know to be melancholy. I had no idea what it meant to have an entire decade fade into seeming oblivion.
I still have a notebook where I wrote over and over how much I loved the 70s and would miss them on that New Year’s Eve night in 1979. What would a new one bring? Would everything suddenly be different? Feel different? I didn’t know what to make of it when midnight passed and absolutely nothing felt different.
The 80s ended up being one of the greatest times of my life. The music, hair and clothes are still among my favorite things. Not to mention the memories. It’s really no surprise to me that as I’ve gotten older all of January has become a very melancholy month. My Dad always used to talk about how it seemed so long after the excitement of the previous holiday months. I definitely understand that now.
January brings the cold and snow of hard-core winter and with it, the opportunity to dwell on the old days seems to settle in. I believe it says I’m here to stay awhile, might as well make peace with me. So I let my mind wander to those winters of long ago when I was a little girl. My mom, outside making a snowman so I could watch from the living room window because I was sick. She later ended up with bronchitis really bad. My dad driving around taking snow pictures just far enough off the beaten path so it would hopefully look like we were way back in the woods.
Fast forward to years later and being out with the fire department in a huge snow on a wreck. I had gotten back in the emergency vehicle and heard the oddest snap. The change in temperature had snapped the frame on my glasses. My kids and I trying to shovel out my very long driveway so we could get our old Taurus moved to go get supplies.
I will forever be that girl with one foot in the present and one in the past. It’s who I am and I have no regrets. Someone has to keep the family stories and traditions alive. It might as well be me.
Are you excited this January or are you too a melancholy soul? Either way, thank you for joining me for another year of Musings from Memory Lane.
