Is 2020 really over?
Have we really moved on to 2021 or is our clock radio going to click over from 5:59 to 6:00 a,m. and we’ll hear Sonny and Cher singing “I Got You Babe” just before we realize it’s January 1st, 2020, and the worst year in a long time has begun to repeat itself?
And here comes goofy Ned again, trying to sell us some insurance.
No, this is 2021.
At least I’m pretty sure it is. I can’t be 100 percent certain because it has been years since I’ve used a clock radio. In fact, most mornings I just wake up on my own as I start my 13th year of retirement. Unless it’s a doctor’s appointment day — and there are far too many of those — I can get up whenever I want.
I know plenty of people who had horrible years in 2020. My wife, for one. Nicole had a life-threatening problem for which she had major surgery. She had to use a colostomy bag for six months. Thankfully, she is recovering now.
My brother-in-law died of cancer in May, so 2020 was not a good year for his family.
And of course, my mother died. She was 93 and had been ill for years, and she had survived her soulmate of 52 years by nearly 13 years. She was ready to pass on.
The rest of us are starting another trip around the sun today. It’s strange how many people see the beginning of a calendar year as a fresh start, when in reality, unless we have somehow improved either ourselves or our situation. Otherwise we find ourselves like the truck driver who was dragged into the woods and mugged at a rest stop.
Naked and hogtied, he somehow managed to get out of the woods and see that they had stolen his truck. A few minutes later, another truck — this one driven by a good friend of his — pulling into the lot.
He called out and his friend saw him.
“What happened to you?” his friend asked.
He told him the story and said that at least he was lucky his friend had found him. Then he noticed that his friend was unfastening his belt buckle and starting to take off his jeans.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
His friend smiled. “This just isn’t your day.”
I hope your 2021 is better than your 2020.
Happy New Year.