a wish

How do you celebrate New Year's? Well, Pieter and I decided to have a quiet evening with a few friends. The funny thing was, it turned out to be a night with 21 friends, children and some babies. Oh boy. It was a nice night, unexpected, spontaneous and crazy at times, but a good new years to add to our growing list.

It all started when I met Pieter, we went to Paris during our first year New Year's Eve together and actually saw Pulp Fiction en francais. Its where I learned that "honey bunny" was in fact lapin sucre in French. What a discovery...I would use that phrase several times when talking to P after that movie. Sigh, smile.

Over the years, we have been to Belgium, Israel, NY City, Holland...and of course, NJ. On the 31st as we approached 2006 friends who were Dutch, Icelandic, Persian-Philapino, Persian-Indian, Pakistani, American and a mix of all the above were over. We celebrated, ate food, got the kids to fall asleep, and sat around our library table chatting and getting to know each other better over meatballs, falafel, and some toasty onion soup that happily got rave reviews.

Pieter and I suggested to the group (before the midnight hour) that we have a roundtable offering. Not of our own resolutions, or personal goals, but rather and instead, a wish for the world. A time to recall all the events that struck the less fortunate around us and to hope or to wish that the coming year would be bringing hope, possibility and maybe a wish that would come true. With that, we suggested that each person make a wish, not for themselves, but for the world and humanity in general. This was the reply:

"Wishes for..."

...more mysticism for more people
...more truthfullness and capacity to recognize it
...more interacial/intercultural integration
...a keener sense of shame or conciousness
...to play more with puppies,
...a greater acknowledgement of issues around us
...that children are truly loved and cared for
...to enjoy more and to share more love
...more respect in the world
...for shops to close more often to have time to enjoy life
...that children are warm, happy, and safe
...that a King or Queen becomes more noble, have the courage to change their agenda towards good and actually follow through despite political pressures
...for equality
...that the world can make wishes themselves

After we reflected, offered a few prayers and listened to some inspiring tunes. We then watched the countdown (caught the final 24 seconds) on TV so that especially our Icelandic vistors could catch the famous ball that drops on Times Square. We then hung out until about 3 AM...That was our New Year's Eve 2005-2006. With that beginning, I look forward to what 2006 will bring.

If inspired (or almost inspired), please add a wish and add a comment to this blog. Looking forward to hearing from you, and before I forget, Happy New Year :-)