Dear Reader:

Yesterday I went looking for a new word or expression to start the New Year and its “beginning ” off today. Out of many ” tried but true” familiar greetings… one word popped up that hit the spot for me…“genesis.”

The term “genesis” can be traced back to the Greek ” gignesthai” meaning ” to be born.” When this term is written with a capital “G” -it refers to the first book of the Bible. When it is used in a non-Biblical sense… it means ” an origin” or ” new beginning.”

Isn’t there something so comforting about the process of ” wiping the slate clean” of all mistakes … and then staring at a clean board? A metaphor for each new year.

It takes me back to my elementary school days at Westlawn Elementary in Fayetteville, NC. I was one of those weird kids who loved to stay after school and help the teacher erase the two blackboards in our room.

My teacher would erase one board while I erased the other… I got to have all of my teacher’s attention for that precious time.

Of course we both had to wait for whoever had gotten in trouble that day to clean the erasers first. It was usually Freddie Jones. He wasn’t a bad kid… just a squirmy one who spoke before he thought and simply could not stay in his seat.

I still remember the scent of chalk as we waited on Freddie to take the erasers outside and clean them. At the end of each week… both Freddie and I would get a peppermint stick from the teacher’s secret ” stash” drawer.

Fridays, walking home with Freddie, eating our peppermint sticks …provides me ( even now) with one of my favorite childhood memories. No matter how the week had gone… good or bad… it was over and two shiny clean boards would await us Monday morning offering clean fresh hope and unexpected possibilities for the new week.

Well by now we know our two state bowl colleges fell short of victory Friday afternoon and night… but it wasn’t for lack of trying in either case. And the potential possibilities for the upcoming 2023 football seasons looks brighter than ever!

Kaitlyn had planned to birthday surprise Tommy with asking some friends to join them at Walsh and Mollie’s home ( this time around… much warmer) cook-out to watch the game. Mollie’s two sisters and their families were in town too so it was quite a crowd … plenty of good food and camaraderie… but unfortunately a different ending for the game as hoped.

This could be seen in the half-time photos and the closing minutes.

So until tomorrow… think about how many new possibilities you will experience this year and what new insights and knowledge you will add to your sense of ” being” ! What gifts await!

Yesterday ( New Year’s Eve ) felt like a balancing act… tetter-tottering- between the old and the new!

Whew! Almost forgot!!!How could I?

” Rabbit Rabbit!!!” Let’s make sure we start the first day of January off on the right foot ( a rabbit’s foot!) Say ” Rabbit Rabbit” first thing today and have a lucky 2023!

And guess what… 2023 is the YEAR of the RABBIT! How lucky is that?????