2022: New Year, New World?

Human beings as a group are eternally optimistic. Every January 1, we express joy and hope for the new year. We put the year that just passed behind us and look ahead, expecting health, happiness, and wealth.

Time doesn’t work that way, though. Most things have a beginning and an end … except for time. It keeps on going for us until we stop going. Then it continues on for those who are still here. That’s a bitter pill to swallow.

When someone we love dies, we wonder how the world can continue on, but it does. We can’t even begin to fathom a world that doesn’t include us. But, we will leave for good eventually and everything will be fine, or not fine, but it won’t be our concern then. Or, at least not from an earthly perspective. I don’t know what goes on in the afterlife. I know there’s a connection between this life and the next but I’m going to wait to find out what it is. I have enough to concern me about surviving this life.

Last January 1, I’m sure I had great hopes for 2021. The previous few years were awful, so how bad could 2021 be? Don’t ask that question … ever. The fates will provide you with an answer if you tempt them. In 2019, I lost my husband unexpectedly. In 2020, the world closed down when COVID-19 started killing hundreds of thousands of people. Businesses were closed, jobs were lost, people couldn’t pay their mortgages or rents or feed their families. It was a hell of a year.

We all thought 2021 would bring a respite, both personal and public.

We were deluded. In 2021, the year started off with a citizen-led insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, which shook our collective core. How could this happen in the United States of America? We soon realized that our nation was deeply divided and we needed to find a way to come together and be the United States that most of us thought we were.

The year also kept many of us in a constant state of anxiety: Are the new vaccines safe? Which would be worse, catching COVID or the side effects from the vaccines? What is the Delta variant and what can it do to us? What is the Omicrom variant and what will this mutation of the virus do to us? When will the virus stop mutating? Why won’t people get vaccinated? many of us asked. Others stayed steadfast in their belief that they either had immunity from when they had COVID or that the vaccines were more dangerous than the virus.

Personally, 2021 was a disappointment. I lost both the top of my big toe, and my job, in March. On March 29, I dropped a heavy deck door on my toe and sliced off the top of my left big toe. On March 31, my company dropped a big door on my psyche and my wallet when they downsized me. Additionally, my siblings and I did monthlong shifts all year long in Ohio, taking care of my elderly mother, until we could come up with a permanent solution. (We’re still working on it in 2022.) In September, I lost my mother-in-law, who was the anchor of the family. I did get a good job in October, which was a blessing. So, 2021 wasn’t a total disaster for me, but I wouldn’t want to re-live it.

It’s 5:45 pm on January 1, 2022, and I’m still in my pajamas. I guess I’ll get dressed and greet the new year. I hope it’s worth the effort. I guess I’ll know this time next year.