Happy New Year to all.
This is truly the beginning of a great new year. The new year can be a new beginning for all of us. We can leave all the baggage behind that we picked up through 2007 and start anew.
I think we all start a new year with big expectations, looking forward to making changes for the better. This is a grand goal. I hope that all of us can do this. However, it takes more than a few simple ticks of the clock, or a ball falling in Times Square to do this. All of us have to want to change in our heart. then practice this change until it is now longer practice but "old hat". Unfortunately, many that started with grand intentions will slowly, imperceptibly slip back into old habits because for many of us, our situations have not changed. WOW!~This is getting to be deep. Let's move onto another subject.
I had to go to Hillcrest Hospital yesterday to make a payment. I drove by the house where I lived while in junior high and high school. Since it was New Year's Eve, it brought back a lot of memories. My parent's would always have a get together (Polite word for party) with a lot of the friends from church and work. My parents spent most of the day preparing, cleaning, cooking, and cleaning some more. For the most part I stayed out of the way. [Side note to something that is coming up--My mother loved to do crafts. She decided one day she would make some candle holders that looked like tiki torches for the yard. She used these for years. She still had them when she passed away 12 years ago. I don't have them now.] While I generally stayed out of the way, it was my responsibility to place these "tiki torches" at intervals along the sidewalk. Later, just before the festivities got under way, I was in the yard trying to light all of these.
Then people would start arriving. When I was in my early teens I stayed in my room during most of the party until on of the football games came on. Then I went to the den where the men were playing dominoes and watching the game. It seems that the game was the Bluebonnet Bowl from Houston. As I got older I spent less time at the house for the party because I had to spend more time with my friends. Regardless of my age my mother still expected me to place the "torches" in the ground and light them. By the time I was in Baylor I worked on New Year's Eve and Day, but I still put the "torches" in until my father passed away, which is when the parties stopped. Every New Years Eve I think of those parties and the good times that were had by all at them.
A year or two later, still at Baylor, we had one of our New Year's Eve ice storms. We had freezing rain, sleet, and snow until the entire city was shut down. I couldn't go to work because no one would be out shopping. I was trapped in my apartment. Just me and my cat. My roommate had gone home for the holidays. Thank goodness I had cable TV. Not cable TV like we have now. This cable TV from the 70's in Waco, TX. It was 12 channels. One channel was a "Weather" channel. It had a camera that panned across a thermometer, anemometer, and wind direction indicator. High tech stuff for Waco, TX in the 70's I guess. Another channel was a "Movie" channel. It showed a variety of 8 or 9 movies daily and changed the times for each movie daily for one week. After a week the movies would be changed. High tech stuff for Waco, TX in the 70's I guess. After that our channel choices were Channel 6 (NBC) and Channel 10 (CBS), both from Waco-Temple. The other available channels were 4 (CBS), 5 (NBC), 8 (ABC), 11(Independent), and 13 (PBS). The movie channel I mentioned earlier was on 12. I really can't remember where the weather dials were; I think maybe they were on 9. That leaves 3 channels that I believe were random scrolling messages and advertising for Cablevision, the provider at the time. Can you imagine being trapped in your house for a couple of days now and that is all you had to watch; no computer, no DVD's, no VCR's, no 200+ cable channels, no cellphones. And we thought we were civilized and living in the lap of luxury then? (If you are from Waco and remember the cable "from the day" write me and I'll add to the post.)
Better go now! It is late or early-Depends upon your perspective on this New Year's Day.
Once again, I would like to wish all of you a Wonderful and Blessed New Year!
© 2008 Barry T Horst
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