What’s In A Year?

2016 has just begun and it seems to me that we put way too much pressure on a fresh calendar. “It’s going to be a great year”, “Can’t wait for 2016”, “Thank goodness 2015 is over”, “I hope 2016 is better than 2015!” In fact, 2016 is just a year. It’s what we put into that makes it what it is.

Remember all the excitement and trepidation that went along with the turn of the century? The year 2000! Some were absolutely sure this was the end of civilization as we know it. Computers just were not equipped to read the date. There was going to be a worldwide crash! What would happen? The possibilities were endless, the results catastrophic! What happened at midnight that fateful day, 16 years ago, was a toast to the end of the 20th century, a kiss to welcome the 21st century, and in the morning all felt pretty much the same as it did the day before, because it pretty much was.

Then there was 2012! The end of the Mayan calendar! This was it! The end of the world! Ordinary people were searching the heavens for the great meteor that would put an end to our little blue ball in the solar system we call home. Not that anything was ever written saying 2012 would be it. The end! Just that the Mayan calendar only went that far. Talk about jumping to conclusions! The Mayan civilization was amazing and far advanced beyond the period of time in which they flourished, but it pretty much fell apart around 900 A.D.! For them 2012 would have been reaching so far into the future as to seem ridiculous. For me, I’m not throwing in the towel based on the last calendar created by people who never thought to develop indoor plumbing. Then again, there was a short moment of pause, followed by a double take, when the head of a small statue, a Mayan replica our daughter had brought back from Chichen Itza in the Yucatan, fell off and landed on the dresser. It didn’t break into pieces. It just lay there at the feet of the figurine like an ancient ruin. The date, January 10, 2012. Hmmm?

Now it’s 2016. I haven’t heard any dire predictions for this year. No great expectations. I suspect this year will be what we make of it. For some of us it will be filled with great blessings, adventures, love, and happiness. For others there will be trials, challenges, overwhelming sadness, even grief. For most of us there will be a mixture of both. It’s a blank slate just waiting to be filled up. 365 days lined up in a row to be lived. What? Wait! Make that 366 days!  Leap year! A bonus day! Turns out 2016 is pretty special after all!