As the hour approached you could hear the beginnings of a wild night. Gun shots were heard sporadically throughout the evening, but nothing compared to what was coming. As the clock struck midnight the air filled with the sound of gunfire. It was nothing I had ever heard before. Shot after shot rang out! Tracer fire lit up the Baghdad sky. Bullets are much easier to come by than fireworks in Baghdad, so that is what the Iraqis use. Firing round after round into the air in celebration. What they don't realize, or don't care about, is that every bullet that goes up must come down.
As my good friend Bob was walking to his car a bullet came screaming down, burying itself in the hood of his car. As I was wishing my wife a Happy New Year bullets struck nearby, startling me. It was a welcoming of the New Year like none I have ever seen.
Growing up in America our idea of properly welcoming the New Year tends to dwell somewhere along the lines of champagne, fireworks, and a kiss. Putting on your finest clothes and heading out to a party with friends and family, or perhaps something a little less informal...
My most memorable New Years was spent around a campfire in the backwoods of South East Texas drinking beer, and playing guitar. I think we all ended up dancing naked around the fire that night, while singing and clapping in time. What really happened that night I'll never tell, but man what memories. We drowned our demons in beer that night before tossing them back into the fires from which they came. Using the first day of the new year as a launching point for the new lives we had vowed to begin, we laid it all on the line.
That year all those involved in the celebration had resolutions and promises to themselves and to others. Many of which we kept, while others ended in disappointment. This year however, I have a different feeling and attitude about it all. I am not making any promises of reform, nor do I have any resolutions to confess. I have said many times lately that I can feel something moving within my life, I can feel the change brewing. For once I have a handle on things and know where I want to be and how I am going to get there. I am no longer planning things, but I am living them. But... I guess if there was a promise, or resolution to be made it would be this... May I be true to myself and my family, and may we follow our hearts and our dreams into the New Year.
I wish you all the best in 2008!
Happy New Year!
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"Oh my Lord, Lord, Lord... Uh huh!" -SG
"Happy New Years baby! We could probably fix it if we cleaned it up all day, or we could simply pack our bags and catch a plane to Barcelona 'cause this city's a drag..." -AD
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