Should Old Acquaintance be forgot,
and never thought upon;
The flames of Love extinguished,
and fully past and gone:
Is thy sweet Heart now grown so cold,
that loving Breast of thine;
That thou canst never once reflect
on Old long syne…
Face it. 2009 sucked. Don’t make me list all the crappy things that happened in the world, because you know I’ll waste a week just to do it. You know I will. And that’s just the stuff that happened to the world.
Because then there’s me. I lost the man I was going to marry. And a close relative was murdered. I gained and lost and gained and lost weight. Well, that’s enough for now.
Oh sure, there was good stuff too. A new president took office. We won marriage in Iowa and New Hampshire and Maine (then lost it…) The economy didn’t fall into oblivion. There’s plenty more, too.
Like the song above asks, Should old times (though not old friends!) be forgotten? For now, I say, yes.
On to 2010. Join me! You’ll be that much farther ahead of the rest of the world. When January 2nd or 3rd or 10th rolls around, and all your friends and family and co-workers are making or falling off their New Year’s Resolutions, you’ll have had time to get it right. You’ll have dropped the funk that was 2009 (see – already I’m using past-tense!) You’ll be well on your way to a glorious, thirteen-month long year!
And, speaking of not forgetting old friends, what better way to ring in the new year than to pay tribute to the friends we have lost to HIV/AIDS. On this, World AIDS Day, let’s declare today the first day of a new year, and the first day of a renewed demand for more funding to support AIDS research, and to support people with HIV/AIDS.
Let’s make 2010 a Happy New Year. For all.