Happy New Year

The North Georgia mountains are cold tonight. I am inside a cabin with my wife. It’s late. Music is playing. I am watching a fireplace.

We are minutes away from a new year, I am keeping an eye on the clock. Nobody here is watching the Time Square ball drop on TV. For one thing, there is no television in these remote woods. For another, you can’t replace Dick Clark.

But there is a record player. I am listening to Ray Charles sing. My wife and I are drinking glasses of magnesium citrate because my wife’s favorite sport is taking vitamins.

I know we should be drinking champagne, or beer, or something fun. But it’s just too dang late. We are middle-aged people who don’t even eat spicy foods past 5 P.M. anymore.

So we drink fizzy magnesium which my wife forces down my gullet each night because it helps with “regularity.” And she wants me to be a “regular guy,” if you catch my drift. My wife stole this particular concern directly from my mother’s playbook.

When I was younger, New Year’s Eve was a wild holiday. Mainly because ever since my teenage years I played barroom music after hours. On New Year’s, anyone who owned a guitar played a party.

Thus, every December 31st of my adult life was spent with a band on a rinky-dink stage, playing for people in sparkly hats.

We used to play some big shindigs. We wore neckties, sang until morning, and the money was always good. When the clock struck midnight, we would play “Auld Lang Syne.” Whereupon the guys in the band would hug each other and make deeply emotional remarks like, “How much will you pay me to drink bourbon out of Mike Brahm’s shoe?”

“Ten bucks.”

“I’ll pay twenty if you do Fireball.”

“I’ll take that action.”

“Count me in.”

“You can’t plug your nose though.”

Before the night ended, we would launch into Ray Charles’s rendition of “Singing This Song for You,” and men on the dance floor would slow-dance with their wives, girlfriends, grandmothers, sisters-in-law, daughters, granddaughters, landladies, nuns, etc.

And in my years of music, there was nothing sweeter. Huddles of uncoordinated couples dancing, foreheads touching. I never saw an angry face. Not once did I see an argument. And I never saw any middle-aged white men dance the Twist like they do at, for example, wedding receptions.

No, New Year’s was different somehow.

Maybe it’s because everyone knows we stand beneath the door jamb of something wonderful. A little scary, yes. But wonderful.

The old year is over, our problems are paused—temporarily. And we slow-dance like penguins at high-school prom.

We’re not stupid, of course. We know this year will suck somewhat. All years suck a little. If they didn’t, nobody would ever develop gray hair.

We know that during this coming year friends will pass away. Loved ones will die. Parents will go downhill. Memories of the deceased will get hazy, and it will be difficult to remember the face of your late father even when you close your eyes.

And still, everyone smiles on New Year’s Eve. Because we also know that we will win more than we lose. We will cry, laugh, ache, and wear one too many polite smiles. We will screw up so badly that we nearly hate ourselves. And we will get fat.

But oh, the people who are gullible enough to fall in love with us. The people who think we are the greatest, even though we know better. Life would be so empty without them.

And the best part is, it seems like the greatest friendships are made from people who are polar opposites.

A Nervous Nellie falls in love with a Lazy Larry. A control freak becomes best friends with someone who doesn’t comb his hair. An uptight woman who scrubs her baseboards every Tuesday and Friday marries a man who hasn’t lifted the toilet seat since the Carter administration.

These people hook arms with each other, and by some strange mystery of the universe, they love one another.

I guess this is why I always liked to see partygoers swaying to the band’s twelve-eight rhythm. I would see a couple looking into each other’s eyes, promising to try harder next year.

That’s all anyone ever does on New Year’s. We promise to try harder. And of course it’s a flat-out lie. Nobody ever tries harder. Because the truth is, even though you might not know it, even though many people don’t want you to believe it, you’re doing just fine.

You you beat yourself up about little things, you feel guilty too often, you don’t give yourself enough credit. But you’re good. And the people who truly love you don’t hold a thing against you. If you could only see what they see.

When your dance partner looks at you, arms wrapped around your waist, forehead pressed against yours, he or she is thinking “God, do I ever love this perfect fool.” And chances are, you’re thinking the same thing.

Even if during this moment you aren’t at a party at all, but slow-dancing in a primitive cabin in the North Georgia mountains, listening to Ray Charles, holding a woman who rests her head on your shoulder and hums with the music.

You’re keeping an eye on the clock. Because when it hits midnight, you know what you must do. You will do what all men have been doing since the invention of wives.

You will drink your magnesium.

May your New Year be beautiful. Just like you.

24 comments

  1. Sandi. - January 1, 2020 6:50 am

    Happy New Year, Sean. I sincerely hope that 2020 is a fantastic year for both you and Jamie.

    Reply
  2. Karen Greatrix - January 1, 2020 7:49 am

    Happy New Year, My husband was one of those musicians for many years, this year we watched the fireworks on tv and toasted each other with hot chocolate. We’ve been blessed to make it this far and look forward to the future.

    Reply
  3. Barbara Jones - January 1, 2020 8:49 am

    Happy New year Sean and Jaime.

    Reply
  4. Keloth Anne - January 1, 2020 10:24 am

    Happy New Year 🎉🎉
    And hope it’s the best year yet😍😍
    Can’t wait to see y’all in Dothan next month 💙💙

    Reply
  5. Ina Carlyle - January 1, 2020 11:23 am

    Enjoy your post. Thanks

    Reply
  6. Sue,a Florida Farm Girl - January 1, 2020 11:26 am

    It is indeed cold here in these Georgia mountains this morning. But heck, we can handle it. Happy New Year and may 2020 bring more love, laughter and life for all of us.

    Reply
  7. GaryD - January 1, 2020 12:31 pm

    Happy New Year ! 🥳💥

    Reply
  8. Cathi Russell - January 1, 2020 1:12 pm

    Happy New Year! 🥂🍾

    Reply
  9. Ken Mitchell - January 1, 2020 1:17 pm

    That’s exactly the way it is on New Years Eve. Happy new year Sean

    Reply
  10. Lita - January 1, 2020 1:19 pm

    Happy New Year to you and yours from me and mine, Sean.

    Reply
  11. Peggy Savage - January 1, 2020 1:28 pm

    Wishing you the happiest of new years. Thank you for sharing yourself with all of us…

    Reply
  12. Hope - January 1, 2020 1:29 pm

    Happy New Year 🎉

    Reply
  13. Jo Ann - January 1, 2020 1:41 pm

    Happy New Year, Sean, to you & your family & friends. You bring examples of goodness to us every day & we love you for it. Thanks over & over.

    Reply
  14. Shelton A. - January 1, 2020 1:42 pm

    Hope your magnesium was delicious. Happy New Year to y’all!

    Reply
  15. Melanie - January 1, 2020 2:19 pm

    Best wishes for you, Jamie and the doggies for a blessed year. Thank you for making ours so special. ❤️

    Reply
  16. that's jack - January 1, 2020 2:32 pm

    HAPPY NEW YEAR, I enjoyed this entry ‘cept the line about the coming year ‘Parents will go down hill!’. I ain’t liking that one. But ‘ats OK. Hope you and the beautiful lady have a great year.
    The best to y’all, from central Flroida
    Sherry & jack

    Reply
  17. Ted - January 1, 2020 5:10 pm

    Happy New Year Sean!!!

    Reply
  18. Linda Moon - January 1, 2020 5:25 pm

    North-Central Alabama mountains were cold last night. The best cold for me was on a North Alabama mountain that had no TV or internet……Heaven, pure Heaven. That door jamb we’re under is a little scary. I’ve never heard our New Year stance described that way before. If I lose the memory of the face I loved all I have to do is look at his picture beside my chair or drive to Oak Hill in Talladega and think about his face some more, thanks to you! Like you and Jamie, 2020 will be beautiful!!

    Reply
  19. Edna Barron - January 1, 2020 6:28 pm

    I hope this New Year is both healthy and happy for all of us. Hugs, Edna B.

    Reply
  20. Colleen Shabluk - January 1, 2020 6:44 pm

    Happy New Year! I often miss reading some of your stories and don’t have any good excuses. But this NYE story invoked many happy memories for me. Blessings to you and yours for all of the best in 2020. And please keep on writing.

    Reply
  21. aleathia nicholson - January 1, 2020 8:44 pm

    This must definitely be in the North Georgia mountains ’cause it sure as heck ain’t in the lowlands of North Carolina nor of Tennessee.

    Reply
  22. Martha Young - January 1, 2020 9:52 pm

    Here’s to a Happy and the Best New Year ever !!! Keep being that regular guy,,,it suits you well.

    Reply
  23. Betty Mc - January 2, 2020 5:09 pm

    Lovely post. BTW you can take Magnesiun Citate in pill form, same results without the unpleasant taste. Thank your lucky stars for a wife that is concerned about keeping you “regular”, Happy New Year to you both!

    Reply
  24. Jean - January 3, 2020 6:15 pm

    Happy New Year Sean…..one of the best New years eves I ever spent was with a girlfriend ….sitting outside the condo…listening to the waves crashing at Orange Beach…eating pimento cheese and fried chicken Now that is life southern style!

    Reply

Leave a Comment