New Year Parties and Auld Lang Syne
We are once again coming to a new year. This weekend, many people around the world will get all dressed up in their new fancy clothes from Christmas and go out to New Year’s Eve parties. Some will go party at friends’ houses, church parties, and more.
I was never one for the New Year’s Eve parties. When I was in junior high and high school my best friend always had a party at his home, and he being the son of a Church of Christ minister it was always a safe space to enjoy the New Year. It was definitely more my speed than out trying to sneak alcoholic drinks from the liquor cabinet of a friend’s parents.
During my college years, New Year’s Eve was a special occasion. Back then, my school’s football team went to the Orange Bowl each year in Florida. Being in the band, we always marched the Orange Bowl Parade on New Year’s Eve night. Being a percussionist, it was fun but definitely taxing on the section that never stopped playing.
The three-mile-long march was awesome for the first mile on Biscayne Boulevard under the bright lights and national television cameras. To keep marching and playing at full speed, the drumline would load up on Vivarin and Jolt Cola so we were wound up way past midnight and our own brand of welcoming in the New Year.
After college I went to one fancy black tie party to celebrate with friends in north OKC. For a non-drinker, it was a night of waiting for midnight and then watching the clock until I could get home.
After kids came along, it was primarily church parties, which were usually fun. The best time for me, though, was having a midnight kiss and dance with my two little girls. As they got older, we turned our home into a home like my friend’s growing up, the safe house to party at for New Year’s Eve.
I am a lot like the Billy Crystal character on the movie When Harry Met Sally. We would sing or hear a rendition of the song Auld Lang Syne. In the movie, Harry says: “What does the song mean? My whole life, I don’t know what this song means. I mean, ‘Should old acquaintance be forgot’? Does that mean we should forget old acquaintances, or does it mean if we happened to forget them, we should remember them, which is not possible because we already forgot?” I always felt the same way.
I finally decided the character of Sally was right. Maybe it just means that we should remember that we forgot them or something. Anyway, I figured it was about old friends.
I always felt the same with resolutions. We tend to make a bunch of promises to ourselves only to break them. I always hated going to work out in January. The rec centers are full of people. By mid-February you can finally get back on a treadmill again and by March the places are empty except for the stalwarts that were there all along. If you’re really not committed to a change, then don’t make the resolution. If you are, then don’t wait until January, but start the day you want to change.
Whatever your desire, make the resolutions you want, and stick to them. Don’t wait for Ryan Seacrest to drop the ball in New York City. Do it now.
As for Auld Lang Syne, I’m still trying to figure it out. Maybe that should be my resolution. Happy New Year.
Randy Gibson is the CEO of RDG Communications Group, LLC.
