Hello, and welcome to the end of 2016! It feels a bit like a break-up. I mean, I know I’m never going to see 2016 again, but am I making the right decision? Should I really be leaving 2016 for 2017? I mean, I hardly even know 2017. What if she’s not as good for me as 2016 has been? Then again, 2016 and I have definitely had our problems, so maybe it’s time for me to admit that, move on, and see what’s out there. But if I don’t find something better than I’ll always wonder what my life would have been like if I’d just stayed with 2016. No wonder people take forever to get out of bad relationships; breaking up with someone is hard.
I’m sure you’re also trying to decide whether or not 2017 is worth bothering with. For my wife, who has a strange aversion to odd numbers, this promises to be a difficult transition. Maybe you’re like her and dislike prime numbers, Amazon Prime, and other prime things. Or maybe you’re just concerned that 2017 is bringing us ever closer to Apocalypse – which, to be fair, it is. I mean, if there’s going to be an Apocalypse, 2017 is definitely closer to it than 2016 was.
Anyway, to help encourage you to embrace the new year with open arms, I’d like to share with you a few of the more hilarious reasons that I won’t at all mind watching 2016 disappear into the great rear-view mirror of the past:
I Began The Year In Corporate Housing
That wouldn’t be bad if we hadn’t been living in an apartment where cockroaches the size of kettle bells would occasionally join you for your morning shower. The kitchen was so small and poorly designed for cooking that we often resorted to ‘sadfish’ night, which was frozen fish defrosted and then covered in lemon-pepper seasoning and eaten while wondering if we would ever smile again. But it led my wife to finding a great new job at her company, so I suppose it was worth it.
My Car Died
Ten years and 290,000 miles later, my 2006 Prius finally went to that big semi-electric car junkyard in the sky. It was the best car I ever hope to own, exactly one repair in almost 300,000 miles and gas mileage so good the car almost paid for itself in gas I didn’t have to buy. But it forced me to buy my first new car in a decade, and that one has a sunroof and Bluetooth capability and possibly some headlight missiles if I could ever figure out which button to push, so I suppose it wasn’t all bad.
My Wife And I Celebrated Our Anniversary A Month Late
And you know what? Right now I honestly can’t even remember why. Some idiotic combination of events conspired to keep us from being able to do a normal anniversary, and this is only our 2nd year of marriage. That’s something you’d expect to hear for your 28th anniversary, but 2nd? What’s wrong with us? But we made up for it by celebrating a belated anniversary in Yellowstone National Park, so I guess it all worked out.
Work Was Frantically Busy At Times
There were multiple weeks when I was in five cities in five days. I can’t even count the number of times I woke up on an airplane and spent a confused moment trying to remember where I was coming from and going to. I missed a few things at home that I wish I’d been able to attend. But we’re wrapping up our best year ever, so I guess that’s a reason to be happy, right?
As I’m sure you’ll have noticed, every frustration I just mentioned came with its own silver lining. That tends to be the way things are. I don’t know what the world has in store for you, but I’m fairly confident it will involve some amount of annoyance, frustration, and pain. However, as long as you’re able to look past that to see the good things that are undoubtedly right beside them, you’ll be able to enjoy 2017 as much as I’ve managed to enjoy 2016, cockroaches and broken cars and all.
I hope you have a fantastic holiday with your family and friends and loved ones, and I hope you have an amazing 2017. Or at least an occasionally irritating 2017 with some amazing moments stuffed in there. I guess that’d be a more realistic wish for you, but it’s a little harder to say. So have a great 2017!
