New Year.  New start.  New ideas.  New chances.  New growths.  New regrets.  When the clock strikes 12, I will not have a prince chasing me with a glass slipper in hand.  I will not be wondering what happened to the precious time that has slipped away so fast yet again.  Instead, I will be toasting to an unimaginable new journey I cannot wait to dive into.  It is exciting to look forward to the unknown and even more exciting to wake up on January 1st with a fresh perspective.
When I was young, New Year’s Eve was a night I was allowed to stay up late and play puzzles while I watched some count down on the television – I had no idea what a New Year’s resolution or champagne was.  I didn’t realize the pressures a year brings as an adult.  I didn’t know what job security, financial stress and bills were.  I had no idea how important getting engaged, buying a house and starting a family was.  The only thing I feared was the ending of Christmas and a yearlong wait until Santa visited again.
Now years later, I have come to recognize the real significance of it all.  Relinquishing the pages of one year and opening the blank ones that have yet to be written.  That is what New Year’s is about.  In the past year I have traveled to new places, grown closer with my family, made mistakes, felt heartbreak, created new memories and new friendships and figured out how to live and survive on my own.  Although there is never a point where you have learned everything there is to know about life, I figure the more milestones I maneuver through, the more I will master.  When everyone starts counting down to the New Year, I will not be thinking about the resolutions I promise I will keep.  I will toast my glass to the mistakes I have made and the valuable lessons I have learned with the friends and family that helped along the way.  I will relish in the past year before the anxiousness of a new one has time to set in.
Casey Rowley is a freelance writer and preschool teacher.  For comments please email caseymrowley@yahoo.com.