New year, new calendars
One of my favorite things about New Year’s Day is hanging up new calendars, and marking birthdays, anniversaries and other special days for the year ahead. A few years ago, I sent a check of support to a nature conservancy foundation, and ever since, I’ve gotten a stack of letters—and ultimately calendars—from organizations begging for my support. Apparently, word gets around.
In fall, I began receiving calendars for 2022. Most were wall calendars, and some were planners of various sizes. In November, I started giving them away because I had accumulated 14 calendars for 2022. After that, I continued to receive calendars... at least a halfdozen more. Some were duplicates, but mostly they were all unique with beautiful scenes of the seasons, pets, wild animals, oceans and mountains, sea creatures, and more. They all wanted my money, but I just enjoyed their calendars.
Because of my various jobs, I can use a lot of calendars—and in fact, I’m wishing I had not given so many away because now, I’m going to run short! Here at the Sentinel we each have a calendar in our offices, plus one at the front desk for a total of five. At Valley View, I have four calendars in various places in the office building; and at home, I have two wall calendars—one in the “command center” (aka, the kitchen) and another in my office. That’s a total of 11! I should have kept those 14 calendars I started out with!
As I flip through a new calendar, admiring the photos for each month, I also love seeing all the blank spaces just waiting to be filled. First, I write in the names of loved ones on their birth dates and anniversaries. And I know that as time marches on, I will be adding meetings, appointments, and special events as they come up. But for now, a new calendar represents a whole year’s worth of opportunities and life experiences to come, some sweet, and no doubt, some bitter, but three hundred and sixty-five days of possibilities!
The blank calendar is such an awesome sight because I know it won’t be blank for long. But while it is, it offers an opportunity to think ahead: What would I like to have happen in my life this year? What would I like to do, to accomplish? What particular areas of growth would I like to have happen? What would I like to attain? Where would I like to go?
The new year stands before me, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. I hope it’s a best seller!
