New Year Celebration

Finally a New Year celebration worth remembering. I was thinking last night about my many attempts to enjoy the ringing in of the New Year in December's past...there was the night in high school my girlfrinds and I whooped and cheered in Meg's Jimmy at the stroke of midnight, driving down Interstate 89 leaving one party, to go to another, where we thought the cooler people would be. There was no other party, so we went back to the first one and everyone we knew had left. And then there was the year I watched from across the dance floor in a dinky little bar as some girl grabbed the boy I thought for sure I would be kissing at that magical hour and jammed her tongue down his throat. The two of them danced, impersonating Patrick Swazey and Jennifer Grey for the next hour until they eventually left staggering, arm in arm. One winter, my mom scheduled an appointment for me to have my wisdom teeth pulled over Christmas break. My New Years Eve was spent throwing up everything I tried to swallow because of a reaction I was having to the pain medication. To make it a little more exciting, my face had swollen to it's fullest. I could barely open my nouth to a small 'o', making the throwing up part of the day quite painful. I still managed to go out for a walk with a friend and share a beer and smoke a cigarette because I refused to let my condition prevent me from enjoying my New Years Eve! Pretty sure both the beer and the cigarette compounded my illness.
I've had some fun years at Phish concerts with friends, large stadiums filled with hippies spinning in the New Year. But last night was easily my favorite so far...

Ken had tried with all of his might to stay awake, but after watching his head fall down onto his chest and then jerk back up for 20 minutes, I finally sent him to bed at 11. He insisted I wake him just before midnight and we would split our split of champaigne. I told him I would try, but I knew he was done for the night. About 11:30 I cracked a beer, and flipped on a little Will and Grace and popped Fredrick on for a nip of his own. I did go and tell Ken that it was almost midnight, but I didn't try too hard to get him up. We've both learned quickly to respect the others chance to slumber. I watched Ryan Seacrest, who was hosting the Dick Clark New Year's Special, talking with performers Hanna Montana, Carrie Underwood, and some other band made up of 3 young boys who looked as though they could have starred in the old Steven King movie Children of the Corn. When the big red ball dropped at midnight, the city of New York began to sing, but not one of these stars knew the words to Auld Lang Syne. As I watched these mega-teenage-stars sway along with the age-old song that people have sung for centuries each December 31, as I thoroughly enjoyed the warm buzz of one beer, as I thought of my mate gratefully asleep head heavy on his pilow, exhausted from being a new dad in the other room, and as I looked down at my now 12 day old baby I reflected back on the many years I've tried so hard to create a memorable moment for the New Year, some fun, but mostly disappointing...and I thought, 'Now, here, with the simplest formula, I've created my own family, the beginning of the greatest memories are underway and this...is awesome!'.