Happy New Year Jan. 1, 2012

Many years ago we began seeing the new year in with a cousin or two of mine and their spouses along with several old friends and their spouses.  Last night was no different.  A huge roaster of kraut and pork simmering all day, turning the house into something that smelled shady.  A big kettle of mashed potatoes, and a miriad of other delectable dishes carried in by the "New Year's Eve" crowd.  Things are in many ways the same after all these years, and in other ways quite different.  Several people are missing.  Joan, my cousin's wife died just over a year ago from cancer.  Eva, the thirteen-year-old daughter of dear friends succumbed to the ravages of CF.  She would have been 18 on her last birthday.  My cousin Simon, struck down with a heart attack, far too young.  For some of us New Year's Eve is the only time of the year we see each other.  And, as with many familiar traditions, it is a comfortable feeling to see the passage of the old and the incoming of the new with family and old friends.