a cartoon character's fiery demise

A new year snuck in this week.

Without cable or any sort of reception for local channels, we just waited until the neighbors cheered to ring in another 365 day trip around the sun. There was champagne (or just sparkling wine because it was not manufactured in Champagne) and we stood on the porch while I smoked three cigarettes first thing on New Year's. I don't make those quitting kinds of resolutions.

Inside we reflected on the past several years, eating the kind of potato chips that have a rippled surface with French onion dip - exceptional when your tastebuds are being affected by just enough sparkling wine and beers. What a fantastic thing for us to be able to sit there at the table, drinking and talking and eating. What a marvel in the first place that we ever all met and still know each other. Out of all the billions of people in the world, there we all were, people all over the city and state and timezone celebrating with their own groups.

When we were done and everyone had left, I went to bed to stare at the ceiling and allowed my mind to wander.