Don't forget to smile at the sky...

Source: http://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=807705

A dragon goes to sleep, a snake slithers into the open.
The sun goes down in one year and rises in the next.

Fireworks are illegal where I live in the USA, and it’s February 9th, but neither fact will stop the sky-popping, confetti-throwing welcoming of a brand new year.

Here, February 10th marks the start of the Chinese year of the black water snake.  Depending on how traditional your celebratory style, you may have started the party as early as the 4th.  These types of differences in traditions and timezones will change the exact minute we each celebrate, but not the meaning.

I’ll be staying up tonight, to welcome in the new year in my own way–  in my own timezone, with my own traditions.  There will be curry for dinner, geek Lotería in the evening, the gifting and receiving of money and wishes, and kisses at midnight.

You might be curious why an American such as myself, with no Chinese heritage at all, would celebrate a Chinese new year.

It’s simple, really.

Every new year welcomes a beginning, and beginnings are precious to me.

I’ve made too many mistakes, and survived too many tragedies, to scoff in the face of any fresh start, regardless of it’s nationality.

In the turning of an old year to a new one, the universe is at the apex of every possible future, and anything we want left behind is locked away behind the doors of yesteryear.  The world calls out to us– let go of regrets and step forward.

It is a transition worthy of celebration.  Greatness and wonder are just ahead of us, waiting patiently for us to reach them.

Our mistakes were just short pathways to these bigger, more glorious journeys.
The first step of which starts now.  At the beginning.

So give thanks to the tragedy that has given your year substance, and say goodbye to it.  Find peace.  Then roll the past up into a firecracker, and set it aflame with your hopes.  As it burns to ash, your dreams will fill the sky with fiery patterns of color and light.

This explosion of sound is your mighty roar to cosmos– letting Fate know to be ready for you, because you are marching towards her.

And when tomorrow dawns, don’t forget to smile at the sky, in gratitude for the gift of yet another wonderful beginning.

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