Old Lang Syne

The New Year has begun and as we optimistically begin to work on our resolutions, we often have time to reflect on our lives. I love the movie, It's A Wonderful Life, to me it is a classic movie that will always make "sense" and teach me a new lesson every year. If you have never seen the movie (I highly doubt it) please take the time to watch it this year. It is a wonderful portrait of the way a person's life really matters and ultimately teaches us what is truly important in life.

The true lesson of the movie is reflected in the clip I put below, "Remember no man is a failure who has friends." Although the movie is several hours long, it all boils down to the fact that money is not important, that the only thing really important in life are the people who care about you.

I am sure by now, you have spend a lot of time reflecting over the past year and thinking about next year.  You may have resurrected those same old resolutions: that diet you have been putting off, that cigarette habit you really want to break or just trying in general to be a better person. You may be reflecting on who are your true friends, the ones who are truly there for you all the time, the ones who are never jealous of your accomplishments and disregard your faults.

Should old acquaintances be forgot? Old Lang Syne means, old, long ago. I take it to mean if a person is an acquaintance, they are really not a friend, therefore, not worth remembering in the New Year. When I think of the past, I truly have no regrets. Yes, I could have been an attorney (anybody who knows me can attest to the fact that I love to talk) I could have been a doctor (I did grow up in the waiting rooms of hospitals) but I did the one thing that was my childhood dream, I became a mommy.

Taking my daughter shopping for her wedding dress made me realize that I made the right decisions with my career choice. Watching her decisiveness and upbeat, positive attitude made my choices crystal clear. When I was writing a blog about my father, I started to cry. My son took his arms and gave me a big hug, concern for his mom in his big brown eyes. He can not talk, but his eyes told me the complete story. Being a mother was a good choice and I have no regrets that I do not have a fabulous career as an attorney; instead I chose a fabulous career as a mother.

I love the book You and Me Babe, written by Chuck Barris. The book is based loosely on his own life, being raised lower middle class and marrying a girl he did not really love for her money. When she is disinherited, he grows to love her more and more each day. Eventually, he becomes a big time producer and loses touch with the important things in life, in pursuit of making lots of money. When his marriage fails and he is all alone in the end, he realizes what was really important in his life was his wife and love, not the money at all. There is a poem I often think of that was in the book when he realizes he is all alone.

Where am I going? I don't quite know.
Down to the stream where the king-cups grow-
Up on the hill where the pine-trees blow-
Anywhere, anywhere. I don't know.


Where am I going? The high rooks call:
"It's awful fun to be born at all."
Where am I going? The ring-doves coo:
"We do have beautiful things to do."

Where am I going? I don't quite know.
What does it matter where people go?
Down to the wood where the blue-bells grow-
Anywhere, anywhere. I don't know 

So, as you reflect on the New Year and remember the old, choose to forget the troubles of last year and move forward towards happiness. As Abraham Lincoln said, "People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be."

May you each have a happy and healthy New Year and remember, you can choose to be happy – it is all up to you!

Click here: Auld Lang Syne - from 'It's A Wonderful Life' - YouTube

Click here: same old lang syne - YouTube