Happy New Year! 2025
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"Happy New Year" feels like a phrase wrought with irony this year. We have been watching a genocide in real time for 14 months now; the upcoming presidency is less than hopeful (to put it extremely kindly); people are struggling in so many ways.
Personally, however, while I am feeling all of those things I also have a sense of hope rekindled. I have always felt the collective surge of possibility and new beginnings on New Year's Day, regardless of the fact that it is just an arbitrary date on the calendar. These feelings are emphasized by the fact that December is over, and I survived.
December is a hard month for my family. We lost my husband on NYE in 2021 when he succumbed to liver and kidney failure after years of alcohol addiction. In December 2022 we lost his mom to her fight with cancer. And in 2023 we lost my sister in law and nephew (also in December), who were killed by a drunk driver while coming home from school. So I couldn't help but feel a sense of dread when December came around this year, and thankfully a sense of lightness when it was over.