You Just Never Know
The new year pops in the night air above me, like a bubble of pink champagne. As waltzes play in the background, down comes a shower of shining possibilities, three hundred and sixty five in all, each one taking its place on my unsullied calendar, where they stand straight and tall, with fresh, clean faces that smile out at me, expectant, ready to do my bidding, waiting to see what I’ll make of them. As I flip through the crisp pages of this new year at hand, I can’t help but wonder what these clear, unmarked days might bring. I mean, you just never know.
What new books might I read during this icy cold month of January?
What sort of Valentine will I make for The Songwriter in February?
Will I plant English Peas in my garden in March?
Will I sit at the seaside on my birthday in April?
Might I walk in a garden under roses in May?
Could this June be the best one ever for all my hydrangeas?
What new hat will be my favourite in the heat of July?
Will I nap in a hammock in the white light of August?
What day in September will I feel the first hint of fall?
Will I knit a red sweater to wear in October?
Who shall gather at my table on November’s Thanksgiving?
And will next December’s Christmas be a white one again?
No matter how carefully we may plan our days, we never quite know what will happen. So much is beyond our control. But would we really have it any other way? Would we choose the safe coldness of certainty and forever lose the delicious possibility of surprise? Who knows, the heat of July could fry all fifty-four of my hydrangeas just like it did last year. But then again, perhaps instead of English Peas, I’ll plant magic beans in March. And perhaps those beans will produce a flower the colour of butter - a flower so large that Edward and I will climb right inside it and wait till a gust of pine scented wind blows us up and away over the clouds where we’ll live out the year in a land full of kookaburras and oranges and no one will even notice that we’re gone.
It’s a brand new year my friends.
And you just never know.
Painting above, "Jack and the Beanstalk" by Maxfield Parrish
A favorite stanza from a poem by William Stafford:
ReplyDeleteYou can't tell when strange things with meaning
will happen. I'm [still] here writing it down
just the way it was. "You don't have to
prove anything," my mother said. "Just be ready
for what God sends." I listened and put my hand
out in the sun again. It was all easy.
Well, it was yesterday. And the sun came,
Why
It came.
...and thank God we don't!
ReplyDeleteWhat would life be without the surprises and the magic! xo
It’s a brand new year...and you just never know...But what I do know is that I'm going to follow you...looking forward to it..Happy New Year!!
ReplyDeletea shower of shining possibilities... I just love that.
ReplyDeleteHere's to twenty eleven - I can't wait to read your beautiful prose throughout the coming year!
Happy New Year, sweet one.
xo Isa
Happy New Year Pamela, I hope your days are filled with happiness.
ReplyDeleteI like your optimistic view of "delicious surprises". It seems that life offers them everyday, however, many people aren't open to them. A blue sky on a cold winter's day is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteSo true and most days it's the unexpected that propels me into action. I've always got the list of to-dos, a wish list of activities or things, a travel list of places I'm dreaming of going and of course a daily agenda of musts but the adventures begin with the unexpected.
ReplyDeleteAnd the unexpected begets the unexpected. Would we have it any other way ?
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, beautiful!!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year,
Lynn
I like the sound of what may be in store every month Pamela and there maybe a few pleasant surprises as well.
ReplyDeleteI like your view. happy new year!
ReplyDeletehttp://design-elements-blog.com/
Thank you, Pamela, for the reminder of the wonder of the new year. I hope it will be full of happy surprises!
ReplyDeletePerfectly written!!
ReplyDeleteDianna
I am inspired by this!
ReplyDeleteHi Pamela; I love that you picked the Maxwell Parrish image. So very perfect for this post. I think that is what excites me the most about this New Year, the fact that we truly can't predict. Even the best made plans can deviate from their course. I just know I'm ready to begin a new. Wishing you all a truly remarkable, adventurous 2011.
ReplyDeleteDeb
Oh, how I love the sound of it! Brand new, filled with promise, hope and all the joy expecting the unexpected!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year, Pamela! And for all you love!
Oh goodness Pamela,
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it be awful if we knew what was ahead for us ? I think that the uncertainty is what makes life intriguing.
All I know for sure is that you will fill your days to the brim and overflowing. I don't think that you stand still for a second and you will delight us with your stories and experiences and fill us with inspiration. XXXX
Maxfield Parrish is one of my favorite artists. I've never seen this one though. I love it. He does light so well. I love the yellow glow in his paintings. I sometimes to emulate him in my photography.
ReplyDeleteEdward is SO beautiful!
I love surprises brought by Nature............the green tips of snowdrops already peeking through the leaf mulch, the bluebird couple coming to the feeder, and hopefully, new buds on my fried hydrangeas of last Summer!!
ReplyDeleteLovely, wishful, hopeful post Pamela.
What an inspirational piece Pamela - giving a positive thought for each month - it really did me good this morning as I was feeling a bit down. Thank you for that.
ReplyDeleteA new year is always full of possibilities, there will be all kinds of surprises waiting for us in the months ahead, let's hope they are all nice ones:) Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteHello Pamela
ReplyDeleteI had tears in my eyes when I read this beautiful post(happy tears). I have learned with my life and having weight loss surgery one day at a time and it has been good for me!
Have a great day-
Best
Tracy :)
Happy New Year to you and Edward - I like that you are keeping an openness to the possibilities ahead!
ReplyDeleteThis is lovely post of yours has added a fresh outlook to the new year for me Pamela...thank you. I love the idea a book of empty pages waiting to be filled...and that it is mostly with *our* pen that we will fill it...if we choose, a truly delightful thought.
ReplyDeleteWe have a challenging year before us but that need not be the main focus...the '365 opportunities of shining possibilities' should be...a new journal with a Parrish masterpiece on the cover would be a nice reminder, I wonder if one exists!
And please...if you and Edward go traipsing off into a big yellow flower...do share your journey with us, and with pictures if possible!
xoxo J~
beautiful, beautiful, beautiful...and M.P. one of my favorite dudes...Pamela, once again you transport me to your world of calm, elegance and the promise of a bright new day.
ReplyDelete