Riding Solo

I hope everyone had a nice time ringing in the new year. I spent the night at home, alone, and I have to confess, I rather enjoyed it. In years past we've spent NYE together in Quebec City, though last year we went to Montreal. It's nice being up there, though this year it just wasn't meant to be. First off, I can't even fathom being in Quebec in this weather, and don't even get me started on the drive. Second, there's too much crazy stuff going on in our lives for a big excursion to be on the agenda. And finally, a funny thing happened to our children - they became teenagers, and at some point no teenager wants to spend NYE with their parents. I can't say I blame them.

It worked out nicely because both A and N had their separate plans involving people their own age. Mom has been away for the past couple of weeks back home, and that left me to fend for myself. I toyed with the idea of going in to work at the Inn; I had originally been put on the schedule but I said I was going to be out of town. In my defense, that was the plan, like every year, but mom had to make an unexpected trip back home and we had to scrap that plan. By that time, the schedule at the Inn had already been set, sans moi, so I would have had to have requested that I be re-inserted into the schedule, which carried no guarantees of employment, especially since I'm in the doghouse with the supervisor. Either way, I decided that I needed to be home in case one of the kids needed me, and let's be honest, I didn't really want to work on NYE, despite the phat paycheck.

So with the kids off and running with their respective crews, I stayed at home and was a domestic madman. I made traditional New Year dumplings and baked some cookies. I had this plan to eat all my favorite foods, engorging myself on pizza, burgers, and ice cream, but none of that happened. I actually had a salad and some soup, then watched the hockey game (Detroit beat Pitt) and Netflix while folding dumplings, and believe it or not, I rather enjoyed it. I spoke to mom several times, and though I was originally planning on going to be early, we agreed to stay awake until midnight and then call each other in the new year. I managed to stay awake, but it wasn't easy.

After we spoke, I headed straight to be and crashed hard. NYE wasn't what I had originally planned it to be, it never is, but that suits me just fine. As a wise man once said, it's just another day.

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Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Marisa Ishimatsu for the pic.