When I was a kid, one of the highlights of my sheltered life was our cousin’s BIG New Year’s Eve bash. All of the parents would drop the cousins off at our grandparent’s small house in east Tulsa, and we would party like eight year olds!
WOO!!
Needless to say, it would get pretty crazy!
We would eat cookies and popcorn. We would build forts from furniture. We would jump up and down for no apparent reason. We would listen to Grandpa’s police scanner. Then, when it was getting late, around 8:30 pm, we would gather in the living room for a talent show.
Grandma was a champion for the creative, and every year she created space for us to shine.
Every year the big bash would culminate in the truly huge New Years Eve talent show.
It was an epic undertaking!
On any given year, you might find a marionette show, a ballet, or a ukulele solo, or some very impressive professional wrestling exhibitions.
I think there was a trained ferret once.
And, me…I always did a magic show.
It seemed I got a magic kit every year for Christmas.
The cool kind with…wait for it…24 actual mystifying magic tricks!!
This gave me a week to master the skills of illusion before the big show.
This usually didn’t work out.
The problem was, it seems, that to master sleight of hand, you really need actual motor skills and discretion. I still can not shuffle a deck of cards, that makes card tricks a little…well…tricky!
But, my obvious lack of skills didn’t stop me.
I was hopeful.
I had big dreams, I was going to be the next Houdini.
I called myself the amazing Languini, because I thought it sounded mysterious and cool.
I did not realize that I was actually calling myself a noodle.
Nothing says mystifying like pasta.
Each New Year’s Eve I would put on my felt top hat and tattered beach towel cape, and then I would put on, quite possibly, the worst magic show ever.
I remember trying to do the trick with the little red plastic vase and rope and never being able to do it right.
The only thing I managed to pull out of my hat was lint.
I destroyed a lot of completely innocent playing cards.
I poked myself in the eye once with my magic wand.
Luckily for my self esteem I had some very supportive cousins.
With each mediocre trick they gave me a second chance…
“That last one was pretty rough, but let’s see what you got now…”
There is great magic in second chances.
There is something so completely hopeful about a new year.
It’s freshly fallen possibility.
It’s untouched, unsmudged, pure potential.
You can pick it up and take it wherever you choose.
Technically, January 1st is just another day, right?
But there is something magical about it.
There is a strange magic in NEW.
The chance to start over…to begin again…a fresh start…a clean slate.
Last year was hard, but hey…you get a fresh start.
“That last one was pretty rough, but let’s see what you got now…”
It’s really good news…it’s the power of potential.
Hit the restart button.
It’s not too late.
It’s like every 365 days we get a Do-over.
It’s a built in time for reflection and renewal.
Hit the pause button and ponder your year.
There is power in pause.
Stop…What did I get right? What did I screw up? What is beyond my control? How can I start all over?
It’s strange magic…How can I make the ugly disappear and pull some new dreams out of my hat?
Maybe our lives got shuffled this year like a deck of cards…
Maybe I lost some precious friends, I will never stop loving them and telling their stories, but I will navigate a new normal now.
I will make new friends and live new stories.
That’s magic.
It’s a tangible opportunity to make offenses disappear through the power of forgiveness.
It’s a chance to forgive others.
It’s a chance to forgive ourselves.
It’s a new start, can you smell it?
I love that new year smell…
Each new year smells like the spirit of do-over. And THAT is downright magical!
carbonated joy 