New Year, New Decade(?), New Beginnings

Nobody denies that come January 1, 2010 we will begin a new year; except the Chinese, and until they take over the world we'll go by the Roman calendar. A new year can be a wonderful thing. Of course it is a rather subjective division, but one that does hold significance. A new year is a representation of new beginnings, or second tries. Resolutions are prevalent. In 2010 millions of people will resolve to lose weight, start working out, quit some foul habit, pray more, be more cheerful, or countless other promises they make to themselves. I'm certainly glad that people will try to be healthier, more spiritual, or just basically "do better". I'm glad that the new year gives them that "oomph" that they need to at least try.

Perhaps the new year will bring new beginnings for me as well. But what about this decade thing. Well it is an age-old argument. When does a decade actually end/begin? The sticklers will tell you that the first year A.D. would seem to indicate that this decade should end Dec. 31, 2010. However I'm in the camp that says this decade ends Dec. 31, 2009. After all we have the '20s, '30s, '40s, '50s, etc. are we really ready to claim that the decade of the '20s didn't begin until 1921 and ran through 1930? Be realistic. So...now that I have settled that argument, ahem(!) I said the argument is settled! That means that we are not only ending a year, but also a decade. Hmmm... should that have more significance? If a year is important, shouldn't a decade have 10 times the significance? Wow.

So the end of a year, the end of a decade. I believe that this has been the best year of my life. I suppose then that this would also be the best decade of my life, though that is much harder to determine. The '80s were good to me, I was born...so that's a plus, but there were those dreadful clothes. The '90s were pretty good as well, but the '90s were just well...'90ish. So much has happened in this decade, too much to name for sure, the top highlight was 2002 when I put Christ on in baptism. So that in itself should carry the day. But what a what a year, what a decade. Hard to believe that it's almost over. Time keeps on slipping into the future.

Almost time to begin again. New year, new decade, new beginnings. Here's to them!