Tuesday, January 1, 2013

A tale of two New Year's Eves

One year, it feels like a lifetime ago, though this memory is less than a decade old, my partner and I got sick of not having plans for the the 31rst, and decided to go camping. It was a mild winter, so we met a lot of hikers on the trail, mostly heading out of the park to enjoy an evening on the town. We found our shelter, bedded down for the night, and went to sleep at the ridiculously early for an urban dweller, but reasonable camping bedtime of 8 pm. Four hours later, we awakened to the sound of fireworks in the nearby metropolis, wished each other happy new year, and went back to sleep. Six hours later, we awakened to a rain storm with winds strong enough to blow the rain into the shelter and wet the tent. We moved the tent to keep it dry. I put out pots to collect rainwater running off the roof of the shelter and start a fire. I reawakened my partner with a hot cup of tea. I think that was my best spent New Year's Eve in recent memory.

This year, after putting Epsilon to bed, my partner and I settled down to work like we do every night. I looked up from finishing my job talk to realize that it is 11:15 pm. My partner and I had recently had a discussion about whether we wanted to stay up to ring in the new year, and decided against it. My watch, set to the time zone of My City, admonished that I've already missed the moment, whether I wanted to mark it or not. My partner, in an attempt to distract me from my despair, opened up the book we are reading together, and we settled in to read ourselves to sleep. 

Oh the times, they are a changin'.

Happy New Year, folks. What did you do last night?

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