Barbara's Meanderings

This afternoon a story hit me so hard I felt like I was punched in the stomach. The amazing thing about this story is the news media was so awful in telling it. By now with the advent of Twitter and the mini attention spans of most people this is no longer new news. However, earlier this afternoon nothing was clear about this story. Following it on Twitter with my friend's updates I couldn't believe all of the discrepancies.

Though I was only seventeen my first year in college, I managed to get a blind date for New Year's Eve from two friends at once. I then had not one, but two dates for New Year's. I chose my roommate's date choice and told the other (the man who became my husband) I was busy babysitting my brother. After all, my roommate's choice was at Harvard and the other was in the Army. This was in the early 60's and the Ivy League won out.:) We didn't do any of the glamorous things I thought we would do, but at least I was out for New Year's. Though it was not so exciting when we ran into a snowstorm and my date had to keep stopping every five minutes to wipe off his windshield wipers.

Through the years whenever I went out on New Year's Eve I kept hoping for the glitz and glamour I had seen as a girl. One year our first New Year's as a married couple, we went out to a bar/restaurant in Binghamton. At the time we were living in Cortland, NY, so Binghamton was a big city for us. I was dieting so I didn't eat much during the day thinking I was going to have a big meal at night. I had dressed up and wore a little black chiffon dress with a plunging neckline. At twenty-one I must have looked incredible:) When we got to the restaurant after seeing a movie where I hadn't even have any popcorn, I was handed a glass of champagne. There was a buffet, but I was dieting, so I didn't eat very much. Later we sat at the bar and ordered a split of champagne for the two of us. I had two more glasses with no more food. At some point my husband left for a few minutes leaving me alone talking with this other guy. I started to think this guy sounds drunk when the next thing I know I'm on the bar room floor!!! No kidding, there I was on the floor surrounded by strangers. All I wanted to see was the familiar face of my husband and there he was. He found out how I had gotten on the floor. I had passed out on the bar and they put me on the floor. He grabbed me by the hand and after I had dusted myself off he walked me to the door. It was frigid outside and I was in this sleeveless, backless, plunging neckline black chiffon dress that was above my knees. He then opened the door and started walking me down the block. I didn't feel a thing and we continued walking until we had gone halfway around the block. I was still not cold so we walked until I felt the cold, which was when we reached the bar again. That night in the hotel room my husband got when he realized how drunk I was, I couldn't go to sleep. After that night I never drank anything on an empty stomach.:)

After our children were born we got into the habit of staying home. I bought hats and noise makers and every New Year's Eve we celebrated with our children, wore our hats and used our noisemakers. Every year before 12 midnight we had a ritual. I put the glasses in the freezer and my husband got the champagne ready and opened it exactly five minutes before midnight. We had munchies and a special dessert too. At midnight we all watched the ball drop and wished each other Happy New Year. Last year I lost the bag with those New Year novelties when we threw it out after the fire. So this year we didn't have our usual celebration. One daughter was at her own party and the other didn't really have her heart in it this year. With my husband's illness and unfortunately, my own sinus infection and the fact I was taking antibiotics, we didn't have champagne. But we did have sparkling apple cider, though that tastes delicious there is no extra kick!! I missed the champagne and the hazy feeling that it was New Year's Eve. Yet the New Year arrived and we were all here together.

My year has started with less than a bang, but I am very hopeful that this is going to be a better year. At least we are not in a hotel and we don't have to go into a smoke-filled house that was condemned due to fire and sift through years of belongings with frozen hands. And we don't have to pack up our life in two weeks. Last January at this time I was thankful to be in a warm room and have a place to live. Now I am hoping that my husband's hypercalcemia caused by his sarcoidosis is going to be controlled again as the doctor claims. He says it is temporary and my husband will be back to normal as soon as they get the right balance of drugs. It is an unknown. But there is something to look forward to in this new year, my book, If I Could Be Like Jennifer Taylor, is going to be published in September. It's my literary baby so I'm feeling like any pregnant woman would. I am pregnant with book and it will be delivered in nine months!!!! Meanwhile joy is bursting inside me when I think that the New Year's resolution I made six years ago is finally coming true!!!!

Unfortunately, one more part of me needs tending. When I went to the orthopedic doctor he said I had a gastric tear in my calf muscle and I need to go to physical therapy. I need to have my insurance company approve it, and when they do I have to call the rehab place and make appointments. With my tutoring schedule I am going to have to make them during the day. That cuts into my time for writing and there has been too little of that lately:) But I need it, because I am limping on that leg if I don't use it for awhile. So I have to go to rehab.:)

I did make some literary resolutions and here they are:

1. Submit my second novel, When My Life Changed, to publishers.

2. Work on my third YA novel, Footsteps on the Sand, which I wrote for last year's NaNo.

3. Work on my romance/suspense/adventure novel, Tall Poison, in my critique group.

4. Really try to read and critique all subs for my critique group.

5. Write a new blog post more frequently than once a week.

6. Go back to writing at least a poem a week and post on Poetic Asides comment page.

7. Write another short story. Either work on an old one or write a new one. Maybe fill out the story I started last week. (That's another whole blog post.):)

8. Write my articles for Examiner.com.

That's all for now. Until the next time thank you to my new readers and to the loyal followers who continue to read my meanderings. I hope all of you had a good New Year's Eve and I wish all of you a Happy, Healthy, Peaceful and Prosperous New Year. This is our year, can't you feel it????

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