Many the Miles

See you later, 2007! Thanks for kicking my ass all over town!

Am I the only one who’s glad to see it end? Perhaps it’s better stated that I’m excited for 2008. Last year wasn’t awful, but it sure wasn’t the best year of my life, and to make matters worse, it ended on one of the most irritating notes possible — this note unfortunately involves family (in-laws!) and a “small favor” for them that turned into a two-day MiseryFest involving U-Hauls and movers and cleaning up an inordinate amount of garbage that I did not generate. I’d share more, but … well, mostly I’m afraid I’d go a little inappropriately buck-wild with the venting, which is unfair to everyone involved. I will get over this. I will!

(Also, and I’m writing this in a whisper: my in-laws moved kind of far away.)

Ahem. Anyway, did you have pork and sauerkraut to start off the new year? The Pennsylvania Dutch believe it’s good luck if it’s your first meal of the year, and though I did not usher in ’08 with sauerkraut, I did have ziti with sausage and peppers. I don’t think, however, that it counts, but given that it is infinitely more likely that twelve naked nuns will arrive on my doorstep fresh from Calcutta to offer above-asking price for my house than it is that I would get Adam to suck down some Silver Floss, it will have to suffice.

Although a random side note: I did notice that the sausage I broke apart for the ziti sauce was made with sheep casing, which: um, ew? EW? Or should I say EWE? (HA! I kill me!) This is the kind of information that would turn me into a vegetarian, but frankly, I couldn’t do it, and under normal circumstances, I have no desire to become one. I like meat a little too much, and while today, the baa-baa-casing is sending me into gaggy fits, I’ll forget about it tomorrow and will even have a hot dog before the month is out. I am also of the unfortunate variety who craves what she can’t have, right down to a burning relentless desire for McDonald’s the entire time I read Fast Food Nation.

Anyway, after more than a week away from work, I’m about as excited to go back tomorrow as I would be for a 5 a.m. root canal, although on second thought, the latter sounds more appealing, because at least it’s followed by an afternoon spent with soap operas and ice cream. This is just a wild guess, but I’m assuming that my day tomorrow will not be in any way touched by soap operas or ice cream, unless you consider an ongoing war with the multifunctional copy/fax/whatever machine to be soap-worthy. (“The copies are coming out of the right end! The copies are coming out of the right end! MON DIEU!”)

(Am still cracking myself up with bad jokes, I’m sorry. I’m punchy, and have also had wine.)

Back to 2008 — I’ll tell you one thing: it is bound to be full of change, and it both excites and terrifies me. Adam and I desperately need change, I think, in order to survive the coming year — not with each other, but from external forces, in other parts of our life together. Where we live, what we’re doing, who will be joining us (Maybe a baby? No one knows yet.) (Nope, not pregnant. A year is a long time!).

Growing up, I moved around a lot, shuffling between homes and would-be step-parents at the hands of divorced, highly mobile — and eligible! — parents. As a result, I’ve spent most of my life craving stability — one house, one town, one job — to the point where I am truly shocked at my willingness to try new things, new jobs, new states, new homes. I am often the very definition of risk-averse, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned moving many thousands of miles away from home to a hot, unfamiliar southern outpost — a move that, by many definitions, is an ongoing failure on multiple levels — it’s that risks are almost always worth it, even if the rewards turn out to be unlike anything you anticipated or even wanted.

Here’s to 2008, and all its surprises. I, for one, can’t wait to see it all unfold, and that’s an unexpected reward in itself.

*Sara Bareilles. I told you! Told you! I can’t stop, and it’s embarrassing.

22 comments January 1st, 2008