Change...

A new year. A new president. A new dog. A new InDesign program.

Change is everywhere. In fact, there’s ninety-seven cents of it in my pocket at the moment. (I just checked.) Granted, not even enough to spend at the dollar store, but it is change, nonetheless.

For me, change begins every year the night of Thanksgiving. After stuffing ourselves full of food, I tend to go home and bring down all my holiday decorations from the attic (which, if truth be told, could also use a little change, but that’s a project for my father’s finely-honed wood-working skills when he finally retires...)

As I figure out what lights work (and don’t work), hang wreaths, and remind myself of all those little things that need done before the family comes over to eradicate the hours spent cleaning my home, I remember the seasons past as I unwrap my great-grandmothers’ ornaments (sans glitter); my aunt Ruth’s hand-crocheted elves (Freddy Kruger-esque); my mothers’ tea set that she purchased the year I was born, decorated with holly leaves and berries and the year "1976" in festive, red lettering (Ahh, the seventies...). My acquisition of these items required change on their part, whether simple changes in decorating taste or something more life-altering, such as a move or a death...

Any type of change creates a past. (Honestly? Puberty creates a past, but I digress...) We can only embrace change if we are willing to say good-bye to something else (and not in a Target sort of way: "Hello, Good-buy, Hello, Good-buy!"), and that isn’t always easy. Whether it be to finally retire that T-shirt from high school, or toss the gaudy wreath my mother-in-law gave me five years ago ("Rich, did you not hear me tell her 'No pink!?' "), or even something as simple as going right instead of left on your way home (I knew I should have taken that left turn in Albuquerque...), change IS good, even if we don’t think it at the time...

As I look forward to the New Year, and the many changes in store both personally and professionally ("What do you mean, we’re upgrading to Quark Five—thousand...?"), I can honestly say while I don’t expect all change to be good or easy, I do expect all change to bring with it memories, a past, and a lifetime I shall never regret living. After all, what good is living life if we never expect to learn or change anything about ourselves? Our homes? Our lives?

As we all gear up for the holidays and the New Year, I want to wish all of you a year filled with wonderful things, and a past filled with wonderful memories. I know none of us can promise that everything that happens will be good, or even best, but inevitably something, somewhere in our lives, will change. And I hope that change brings personal growth, happiness, and all the best that humanity has to give...

Happy holidays, everyone!