December 31: Should Auld Acquaintance...

I have no idea what "auld" acquaintance is.  I've always thought it meant old friends or lovers or times.  Basically, "Auld Lang Syne" is a lament about the past.  Maybe a warning even.  It's saying, "Don't think about the past" or "Think about the past with fondness."  It's about letting go and moving forward.

I am letting go this evening.  I'm saying goodbye to J. D. Salinger and The Catcher in the Rye after over 300 posts.  Holden has become a part of me, like Ebenezer Scrooge became a part of me in 2012.  I'm totally ready to part ways with Holden.  He's not an easy guy to live with for a year.  Of course, I will miss him.  Eventually.

For the first two years of my son's life, he never slept through the night.  I was up with him two or three times a night.  It was exhausting.  I would go to work tired, come home tired, go to bed tired.  I used to lie in bed, praying my son would sleep through the night.

Now my son is five years old.  He's stubbornly independent.  He doesn't like me to help him with anything.  In five or six years, he'll probably think I'm an idiot for not understanding the rules of football or not knowing the difference between the AFC or NFC or NFL or NHL.

My point is that I sort of miss the nights when my son would call out to me from his crib, needing comfort and love in the darkness.  And I will miss Holden eventually, as well.

Auld acquaintance.  Fond auld acquaintance.  Goodbye, Holden.

Saint Marty wishes you well.

Time to raise a cup of kindness...