Out With The Old

Here's a favorite quote of mine from T.S. Eliot:

"For last year's words belong to last year's language, and next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning. "

Isn't that nice?

New Years is probably my number one favorite holiday. I don't know that it's always been that way, because I feel pretty sure that when I was younger I was more interested in holidays that involved some gift-giving. But now, the older I get, the more I appreciate the fresh start that January 1 always makes me feel like I have. It's enough sometimes, especially at the end of a difficult year like 2005 was for me, to be able to say, "Ok, that's over now."

I always like to remember where I was when the new year dawned. This year, I was standing in a crowded room full of people that I had mostly just met, wearing a red paper crown and a purple Hawaiian lei around my neck, and my hair and clothes smelled like smoke from the fireworks we had been shooting outside. We all had a glass of champagne, and as the countdown to 2006 began we raised them high. At midnight we toasted and I took just one sip and then immediately threw it out because 1) I try to keep up my role-model habits at all times and 2) I really don't like the taste at all. Afterwards, we went outside, where we shot more fireworks that I'm pretty sure were not approved by the neighborhood. My friend Kris and I got some sparklers and stuck them into the ground, trying at first to spell out 2-0-0-6 and then shortening it to just 0-6. And then I sat down on the steps and proclaimed that this year would be my year, although I'm not sure what I meant by that. Kris then started saying "Kristi in 2006," and I laughed, because she made it sound like I was going to run for President. I looked at Kris, whose wedding I'm going to be in this July, and I laughed at her crown (which was like mine but only purple, and it was falling off of her head) and I was glad just for having her around. And then somewhere inside I was also thankful for my family and all of my other friends, and for the lessons that I learned in 2005, even the ones that I learned the hard way, and even the ones that hurt, and maybe those most of all.

And that was it, and then it was 2006.

For this post, I want you to describe in detail where you were when it became 2006. Include smells and sounds and sights, because this is more practice with imagery. If you're up for a challenge personally, you could describe this moment in poetic form. That could be cool - it's up to you. There's no wrong way to do it, except to not do it at all.