Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot.....

I started writing this post in my head when I did my Christmas cards late in November.

Many of you more technologically astute individuals have your addresses in your computers or in your cell phones.

Alas, that is not my forte, and besides, I have a sentimental attachment to my address book.

I bought it in 1986 at The Old Country Market in Coombs, Vancouver Island.  Someday, I must have goats on my roof too - must mention that to Barry...

It has been well-worn and similar to my family pictures, is the historical archive of the last 28 years of my life.

As with all of our lives, our address books are living, breathing, evolving representations of ourselves.

Up above you can see that someone recommended The Baby Book by Dr, William Sears to me when I was pregnant with my son and I dutifully wrote the title down.  I bought the book and Barry and I and Dr. Sears attachment parented him, and the results seem okay!  My daughter was cared for by us and Penelope Leach and she seems quite okay, too.

Every page has something scratched off or changed

...someone has moved

...someone has died

...someone has divorced and now there are suddenly 3 or 4 addresses

---I'm not close with that someone any more

---someone is a new friend


Sometimes it takes me a moment to remember who someone is.  Why do I still have the name and phone number, not crossed off, of a friendly fellow I worked with in 1986 at an Alzheimer's Day Care Clinic in Regina, Saskatchewan?  Surely J cannot even be in the same shabby apartment he was in all those years ago, and if he is, what would I think of that?

There are all of our addresses: the basement apartment in Regina, the rented house on Vancouver Island, the apartment above the old bakery, the professor's house, the small apartment with the leaded glass windows, the apartment where we put in our first garden, our first house where the kids first lived, our present house... They are all there.

The greatest number of addresses belongs to my brother-in-law, I won't share who has had the greatest number of partners!

There are the meticulous directions to the Motel 6 in New Haven Connecticut that was so sketchy that after we checked in with our young kids we decided we did not feel safe and even the desk clerk agreed and sent us on our way with a full refund!

There are no Qs.  I need a Q friend!  Queen Elizabeth?

There are many people I've lost track of.  I wonder where they are now and I hope they are happy.

This year New Year's Eve I toast my friends, hither and yon:

• those I see weekly
• those I haven't seen in 28 years
• those friends who have passed on, still with me in my heart every day
• those I am no longer friends with - people grow apart and change, but there will always be room in my heart for them
• those who are new gifts in my life - you all here for example and I would include Miss Rewired, whom I have been friends with for a long time, but have only gotten to be really good friends with this past year
• those I used to work with who made the days pass happily even when there were stresses

When I look at my address book, the one I share here or the electronic one I have on my email account, I feel the blessing of moving through life and meeting people along the way.

Yes, there is a certain sadness about the changes in the book.  It seems like just yesterday I was newly married and buying this address book.

Now I am about to turn 51, feel like I'm 14, and have turned a new corner in my life and will continue to add to the book as I go along.

So as you go about your festivities tonight (ours will be just Barry, daughter and I), take a moment to think about your address books, will you?

And be glad for them, even if they are thinner now than they once were. 

And if you need an address to to add, well just add mine - sydforry@hotmail.com.

There's a reason we all love Robbie Burns so much on this day of reflection:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my jo,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

Tomorrow a new year will dawn.  May 2014 bring you joy and happiness and most all, may it bring you peace and contentment.

 

 

 Much love!  Stay safe out there!

******
oh and PS - if you missed yesterday, you can read my published article here!  Yippee!