Our daughter was off to spend the night with her friend Alicia over New Year’s Eve. I think we’ve always had Brittany with us for NYE, so it was interesting figuring out what we would like to do on our own. We thought about going out to our favorite Thai restaurant, but instead we decided to pick up some trout and yummy scallops from our favorite fish monger (Absolutely Fresh).

In Nebraska, when we go to the grocer, we have a selection of fish. Catfish. Swai. Some sort of icky whitefish. Nothing worth eating. The salmon is likely good, but if you really want good, good fish, you have to make a special trip to the fish monger.

We watched a movie on Amazon (can’t remember what) and then we watched part of the festivities in New York City. I began wondering… why is the calendar changing to the New Year party-worthy? I don’t mean to be depressing at all. It’s just that every new year is full of its own challenges. I’ve had some pretty major challenges in the last year; some of them pretty amazing, some of them incomprehensible.

So if every year continues to have its own challenges, I suppose that it’s realizing that you’ve made it through the old year’s challenges or enjoyed the gifts of the previous year, and you’re moving into the unknown, where it can be good or bad; happy or heartbreaking, but hopefully mostly joyful.

Maybe it’s the feeling of comfort of the moment; being in a happy place, with a roof over our heads, access to all of the requirements to live on… plus something more.  And if we’ve started the New Year off in a horrid place, there is always hope for a better tomorrow.

Maybe that is the point.

And getting to see LMFAO performing in Times Square.

I am waving “so-long” to the challenges of 2011 and saying, “Bring on more great things” to 2012.

Happy New Year!