Story-A-Day #415: A New Year

A NEW YEAR

This is typically a time for revelations and resolutions, a time where we reflect back upon the year just passed and celebrate our successes and mourn our losses. It is a time where we look to the present and opt for change; for betterment.

It is typically a time to get drunk and ring in the new year, but sometimes it is just as well suited for quiet moments in; time spent peacefully reminiscing with family and loved ones.

Don't just think of the past year; think further back to some of the moments that got you to the place you are today. Think of the choices you made and the paths you took to get to the place you are tonight.

We have all experienced ups and downs on our journeys through life. We have loved and we have lost. We have experienced unbridled passion, and unparalleled heart break. We have been to weddings and to funerals to celebrate both new beginnings and sorrowful ends.

We have families: parents, children, brothers and sisters. We might no longer be the same people we were back then, but our essence, our place in the hierarchy of family is the same.

We grow, we learn, we change and evolve. We try to do it for the better, rather than devolving into lesser versions of who we hope to become.

Tonight brings a new year, which is not to say that it merits change. Maybe the only real change we need is to commit more time to being with those closest to us. Maybe all we need, is to commit to pursuing our dreams, chasing those things that will bring us the right amount of stories and success to have something to say in one year's when your family asks what is it that you are happy for this year?

This year, I am happy for my family and friends. I am happy to be where I am in life, knowing that where I am will facilitate what I will become.

That is a good thing, a great thing even. I am happy...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone. Please excuse auto corrected errors!

Story-A-Day #414: Frost Giants

FROST GIANTS

The reports were vague at best, most of them revolving around strange occurrences throughout the city.  There was no real evidence that something mysterious was happening, but there was no denying that weird things were happening.

It started with a power outage due to a downed line.  Eyewitnesses at the scene reported a strong and offensive aroma that lingered heavily in the air, almost like burnt hair.  That was the catalyst for what was to come.

There were other power outages, other downed lines, but there was also a rash of damaged property throughout the city.  Cars were found with their roofs caved in, garbage dumpsters crushed like tin cans.  Tree were found cracked in two, large sturdy maples.  It could be expected during fierce wind or thunder storms, but it was an anomaly on calm summer nights.

The media had been chalking the occurrences up to teenage vandals.  They even justified the crushed garbage dumpsters up to hit and run scenarios, drunken teens losing control of their joyrides.  Only thing is, there were never any reports of stolen vehicles or smashed cars being brought into local garages.

Like most people, I assumed that the media was probably telling a variation of the truth at least.  They only had certain privileges after all so it was quite likely that they would be developing their own theories and conjectures and expanding upon those.  Knowledge is power and if the police had no leads, then obviously that was not something they would want to communicate to the public at large.  I was sure that they were just as baffled by the occurrences as everyone.

Hell, I was baffled until one day I discovered a strange...something in the snow.  It looked like a footprint, a very large footprint.  I wore size twelve boots and this particular print looked to be about twice as long as my own.  It dawned on me then that there might be more to these occurrences than any of us had imagined.

It dawned on me that our little town might have a problem bigger than any of us had imagined.  A giant problem, at that.

Story-A-Day #413: Tramping

TRAMPING

Days like this come out of nowhere sometimes.  When he left for work, it was a cool, sunny day; one that seemed with of promise and potential.  It seemed like all would end as it began.  By the time he stepped out for lunch, the skies had turned grey, and fat, heavy clumps of snow swirled to the ground.

He ducked around the corner and into the bistro where he found himself chowing back on his bagel and soup with a little more urgency than usual.  He took the coffee to go, and scurried back to his office through the strengthening blizzard.

Three inches had fallen within the first hour, and it didn't look like it would be letting up any time soon.  When he got back to his desk, and shrugged out of his mid-length pea coat, he logged back into his computer terminal.  The weather website was calling for at least a foot of snow.  Not good at all.

He tried to get back to the report he had been working on all morning, but he found himself distracted by the swirling white outside.  When he glanced out his office window, he couldn't even see the building across the street through the swirling eye of the blizzard.

His eyes drifted up to the ticking wall clock above his desk for the third time that hour and he cringed.  It would be a long wait until the end of his shift, and an even longer trip home if this weather kept up.  He buckled on and focused on the report.

His shift finally ended and he made the slow inevitable moves towards heading home.  He pulled on his coat, wrapped his scarf around his neck, and slowly made his way out towards the lobby.  Bracing himself, he stepped out into the blizzard and started the long walk home, tramping through two and three foot snow drifts and feeling exhausted after the first ten minutes.

He stopped to help four cars out of the drifts they had been captured in within the first twenty minutes and then succumbed to the inevitable neon glow.

He stepped into the pub and ordered a pound of chicken wings and a pint of Guinness.  He needed a time out and a little strength before he continued home.  On a day like today, it just made sense.

Story-A-Day #412: The Follower

THE FOLLOWER

I don't mind that you follow me through the night.  You actually make me feel a little more safe than I would otherwise, without you watching over me.  Sometimes I can feel you all around me, but usually I just catch a glimpse of you reflected in a passing window, a sheet of ice, or even the large mirror in my bedroom.

On some nights, it is just your smile, a small crescent that peers out at me through the night.  I catch a glimpse of it smiling at me from the window of the pub, or the convenience store where I stop for coffee on the way home.

At other times, I see your full pale face beaming at me from behind the treeline, a warm and welcoming presence in the night.  Knowing that you are there almost lights my way home.  At the very least, it provides me with a sense of security when I see a group of rowdy drunks approaching up the sidewalk.

Even when I am at home, safe in the comfort of my own sanctuary, I don't find it creepy or comfortable knowing that you are out there, waiting.  Sometimes I will even leave the curtains parted so I can watch your face slowly drifting across the school playground across the street.

I like knowing that you are out there.  I like knowing that you are watching over me, that you are out there in the night making sure that I am safe.

I like knowing that you will be there for me in my darkest hour ensuring that my way home is illuminated.  You are great that way.

Story-A-Day #411: White Mist

WHITE MIST

It seemed like a short cut.  On most days it would have been, a quick cut through the parking lot.  It was clear now though, that on a night like today, there were no short cuts.  Just longer diversions through the same familiar territory.

With each new step forward, I felt a little more trapped by the last step I had taken.  The world had become encompassed in a white mist; a particular kind of winter storm that results in pure white out conditions.  I didn't see this one coming, and now I had a long hike ahead of me through the white mists of this sudden, aggressive winter blizzard.

I popped my collar, pulled down my toque, and cursed the fact that I was a smoker.  My right hand was frozen solid into an icy claw.

It burned with the cold...

I stumbled forward through the cold and squinted my eyes into the cold blast of winter.  I had places to be, and nothing would stop me from getting there.  I pictured her warm smile greeting me upon my arrival, and to be honest, it was almost enough to get me through on that fact alone.

I stumbled through the tire-rutted, snow-filled parking lot, and onwards.  At the rate I was traveling, I would be there within the hour.

The wing whipped around me, sucking the heat from within my core by the few exposed bits of flesh that the conditions were able to carress.

I could hear a howling behind me; most likely the wind picking up again.  This howling kept growing closer though, until eventually it was upon me.  I didn't even realize it wasn't the wind until I was suddenly hammered face-down into the parking lot from behind.

I floundered for a moment, then realized it was hopeless.  I had been bested in the white mist.

Story-A-Day #410: Boxing Feint

BOXING FEINT

December 26th is supposed to be the day where you bid farewell to Christmas, call an end to the over-decoration of every surface of your home and property, and yet, this year, I want this day to last forever.  Just because it's Boxing Day doesn't mean we have to pack this all up.

I don't want to take down the lights outside.  I want to give them a chance to glow again and light up the night with their incadescent splendor.  I don't want to tear down the tree and throw it to the curb, or pack up all the decorations and pretend that none of this ever happened.

I definitely don't want to deny the miracle of the season...

There was no real miracle that occurred, not in the biblical sense at least.  But that doesn't mean a miracle didn't happen.  That doesn't mean we should be so ready to pack up the season and head to the mall for great deals.

To me, the real miracle of this time of year is that I was able to spend relaxed time with my family and friends and not have to worry about the crushing oppression of oncoming work obligations.  It is the first time in a long time where I feel like I can safely relax and not worry about all the things I typically do on a day-to-day basis.

This is not the day I choose to spend packing up the holidays.

This is not the day I choose to sort through my gifts and find homes for them all.

This is most definitely not the day that I choose to head out to the mall and face the hordes of people who are not already happy with what they have received.

Today is a day where I decide to extend all that is important by one more day at least, to enjoy the time I have been allotted and to spend it wisely.  I choose to spend today relaxing and enjoying this moment in time; with my family, my friends, maybe just a good book or a movie.

Consider this my feint, my dodge.  Consider this my piacular moment for all the time throughout the rest of the year where I have only focussed on my work.

Consider this my miracle day...

Story-A-Day #409: Traditions

TRADITIONS

People have all kinds of different traditions for the holidays.  Christmas alone, is jam packed with variations on a theme.

Is it the stuffing of stockings that sticks out with your family?  Many families consider that a key component of their holiday celebration.  Pulling little trinkets out of an over sized sock tends to be a big part of the Christmas process.

The exchanging of gifts also factors into the equation.  For many, this is the lynch pin upon which many people's Christmas traditions revolve.  Gift giving is the focal point of the holiday for many people.  For some, it is the look upon the recipient's face as they open the perfectly selected gift that brings the truest sense of pleasure.  For others, it is the anticipation of tearing through the paper off the big package with their name on it that brings about the most happiness.  Neither feeling is right, but a sense of balance between the two is always best.

Some people choose to focus on the trimming of the tree.  It is a perfect time to bond as a family.  Relics from years gone by are unpacked from big boxes and carefully hung from the boughs of the Christmas tree.  The decking of the halls is always an essential component of the season, and one that many people choose to focus on.

I always like to think of the small things that bring it all together, the pieces that bind the whole.

I like to think of how my family did things, mostly how my mother did things.  There would be the stockings, and the gifts, and the tree, but there were also smaller touches that brought it all together.  There were bowls of nuts and nutcrackers; huge turkey dinners with the best stuffing you would ever taste; drinks with the members of my family that I never seem to see enough; cheese balls and Twiglets; and so much more.

Traditions are built for amending and adapting.  Figure out what works best for you and adapt your traditions to that.

Merry Christmas!