2024, Family, Gatherings, holidays, Mysteries, Uncategorized

Ends/Beginnings

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We typically spends New Year’s Eve staying home, drinking in moderation, and going to bed before 9:00. Tonight will be no different. The New Year has never meant much of a change for us, but this January forward will be much different than in the past.

I retire from full-time work January 31. I will be out of the office for the month of February, and then start part time in March. I hope to put in no more than 20 hours a week, doing two evaluations a week and writing the reports. I am a little concerned my agency wants me to do more than I have imagined, as I have been asked to supervise two counseling interns and to continue behavioral consulting at Head Start. They also want me to continue as a consultant to the Youth and Family team and to train staff in diagnosis and treatment planning.

All the while this will be going on, Husband and I will be downsizing and preparing ourselves to move to Minnesota. I think the move will be no later than the spring of 2026. It is very strange to have so much uncertainty in our future after 36 years of much the same activity, people, and tasks.

What does the New Year hold for you? What have been your most uncertain times? How do you celebrate New Year’s Eve?

23 thoughts on “Ends/Beginnings”

  1. 2025 will be the first year of my life (almost 69 years) without my mother in it. That’ll take some getting used to, especially at birthdays and holidays.

    Some travel (two weddings to attend, which is two more than we’ve attended in the past 20 years). I hope to finish another book in 2025 (no guarantees!). Planning to have cataract surgery in the new year.

    And if all goes well and Sandra’s allergies aren’t playing tricks on her, we’ll purchase a Siberian forest cat (hypo-allergenic) in January or February. She “met” one last week at our nephew’s house (neighbor cat) and didn’t have any issues. Amazing because those cats have looooong hair.

    We just counted, and cats have been in our lives for 30 of our 46 years together. Sandra is quite excited to have a cat in the house again, but I keep tempering her eagerness with reminders that it’s not a guarantee that she won’t have allergy issues.

    Otherwise, we’ll just focus on staying healthy, enjoying each day, maybe get serious about downsizing.

    Happy New Year to all. Wishing you peace, prosperity, happiness, and good health.

    Chris in Owatonna

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  2. This year will hold much of the same as last year, and I’m hoping to do more short jaunts to meet friends and family in mid-way locales. The year may also include a surgery for Husband, as the other carotid artery is now somewhat blocked.

    There were several uncertain times when I was moving all over the country in the 70s, before settling in Mpls. I also remember a year (2000?) when Husband had decided to quit one job before finding another one. (They wanted him to move to Texas… I asked him how often he would write to me.) We explored a few options, including moving up to Bayfield area, Wisc.

    The usual quiet N Y Eve here, though we may take in A Complete Unknown. Only way we’d be up at midnight is if there are neighborhood firecrackers that keep us awake…

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  3. Rise and Party On, Baboons,

    Well, maybe not. My New Year’s Eve plans are pretty quiet, as they almost always are. I.just.don’t.care.that.much and I don’t like staying up late. No matter what I awaken at 6:15am and if I am up late, then I drag all day long. My neighbors are having a wild game feed this evening, which we will attend. Wild Turkey (the bird) Wild Rice Soup is the feature.

    Renee, I did the “Step Down” retirement plan that allowed me to ease out of the professional world. I liked it that way because I adjust slowly to big changes, so I could just adjust slowly.

    The most uncertain time of my life was when I had breast cancer (1990). I did not know what the future held or if I had any future at all. The worst part of that was that my son was 8 years old with a father who was not really invested in meeting our son’s needs. And he had some specific needs (i.e. gifted programming to keep him in school). I am here writing about it, which leads to the conclusion that I survived, but it was difficult physically and emotionally. By moving into a school district with the programming my son needed, his needs for discipline and intellectual stimulation were met and he has done well. So it was all worth it.

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    1. I still love psychological testing. I am ready to be done with therapy, but still love play therapy.That will be hard to give up.

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  4. Not surprising that many baboons don’t see the point in staying up past bedtime for the New Year. When I was in high school, I used to stay up but as an adult… meh.

    I do occasionally use the New Year to ponder habits that I may have fallen into that need adjustment. This year I have decided I’d like to spend less time online. It irks me beyond belief when my phone tells me how much time I’ve been lost in cyber space each week.

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  6. OT. If you are interested in my 10 Books of 2024 and have not received the list in the past, please let me know. And I send via email so if I don’t have your email… please send it to me. shelikins at hotmail.

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  7. 2025 hold more learning for me, more travel, and I hope to deepen new friendships and nurture old ones. I think the most uncertain times I’ve had were my years in Waterville. I’m glad those are gone.

    My favorite New Year’s Eves were many years ago. My friends Gordon and Michelle used to have a fun, small party at their house. It was miles southwest of Mankato and several miles south of Nicollet. Their house was way up on a hill which overlooked the Minnesota River valley, way back in an oak woods. Their driveway was over 1/2 mile long and uphill all the way, making it a challenge in winter. The party was potluck so I always had a dish to pass, my mandolin, gifts, skis, poles and boots. It was before electronic songbooks, so I also had my heavy, huge songbook. I always tried to make it up their hill in my 1992 Honda Civic hatchback. Sometimes I could but often I couldn’t. A friend, Al, would use his old Subaru Outback to ferry people up and down the hill. You just had to wait at the bottom and he’d be back down to pick you up. It was such fun, and I do miss those days. Al passed away a year and a half ago from complications of long covid. Gordon and Michelle don’t have the party anymore, not that I blame them, but I miss it.

    I usually stay home now, like most of us. I don’t drink anything out of the ordinary. It’s pretty much just another night for me. Tonight I have tickets to see Monroe Crossing at the Sheldon Theater in Red Wing with a friend. I will be driving, so there will be no drinking.

    Congratulations on your future retirement plans. You might have to be firm about how much you can do. I was happy to ease into retirement by working on call. It would have been really hard to just stop suddenly. I know I would have missed it a lot. Working on call was perfect.

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  9. Good day. Kelly has the cold and cough now that daughter is still getting over. So far so good for me. So one of them will probably be asleep on the couch, we usually watch the ball drop at 11 and then daughter can’t understand why it’s dropping again at midnight. I’m never usually asleep before one or two anyway, I don’t know why lately I’ve been having more trouble falling asleep. So we’ll be up but I’m looking forward to a quiet night. I’ll find something interesting to watch on TV. We don’t like the music and the atmosphere of the TV shows, it’s just the ball drop and the countdown.

    Yep, used to be some fun New Year’s Eve parties. I have a 94 year-old friend that I visit after my mom and last week I asked her if they had New Year’s Eve parties. she smiled and paused and slowly said “oh yeah“ I burst out laughing.

    I’ve told several people today that I’ll bail them out as needed. So far nobody’s thought they were gonna have to take me up on it.
    Let’s hope this group can keep it that way, shall we?

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    1. This is really to the entire string.
      We are blessed to be from the other side of the world so we don’t have to wait until midnight EST (the zone in which we now reside). When we do a viewing of the year coming in, it is at 11AM our time, but occurring in Taipei, where there’s a phenomenal fireworks show from the 101 story building in the Eastern part of the city. The programming also runs all around Taiwan, where there are outdoor stage shows with popular acts and singers, and mayors, etc. flipping switches to light up the night in their cities.
      Watch some of it here: https://youtu.be/KNvUny1DA_Q?si=wP9OZC_Dm8EVKgMu

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      1. Those are some pretty impressive fireworks, David.

        Here on the West Side of St. Paul, we’re marveling over the fact that it is absolutely quiet. No fireworks whatsoever. None.

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        2. Yes, it was almost eerie how quiet it was. A few minutes past midnight there were a couple of firecrackers, but nothing like in prior years where there were fireworks, night after night, both leading up to and after New Year’s Eve, for extended periods of time. I’m not complaining, though, quiet is nice.

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  10. My New Year’s Eve will be very quiet. I have spent yesterday and most of today slowly undecorating and cleaning room by room. I like starting the new year clean and organized. When I was much younger, I did celebrate with friends or family – movies (either in a theater or on TV), games, and dining out. Those days are long gone. Over the course of my career, I worked many, many New Year’s Eves. We would fill little med cups with Sparkling Juice, toast each other at midnight, and then get to work. Often times I volunteered to work it even if it wasn’t my turn (we alternated Christmas with Thanksgiving/New Years). Like many other baboons, I’ll probably be in bed before midnight.

    2025 holds a few trips (Galápagos Islands in late February, Tucson in late March, and a cruise from Japan to Singapore in October). Otherwise it won’t be much different from 2024 – accompanying school music programs, kayaking in the summer, spending precious time with my newest great niece (now 10.5 months old and crawling like crazy), getting together with friends, and reading like mad.

    Happy New Year to all!

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        2. I hear lots of good stuff about it from critics, from folk enthusiasts, other musicians, and from regular folks. It’s based on Elijah Wald’s book by the same name, is very well researched and stays pretty true to verifiable “facts.” Timothée Chalamet does an amazing job of not just imitating Dylan but capturing his essence, from what I’ve read.

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