Nomad Online

It’s the first day of the new year. I woke early. I wanted to greet the first sunrise of 2018.

So there I was this morning, in my little part of the world, on a tiny spot in time, watching the sun rise out of the clouds at some crazy hour.

It may be just another day for some. A continuing rather than a new beginning. But not to me. Something always ends and starts again on the first day of the new year.

So, good bye 2017. You went by too quickly.

It felt like I said hello to you only yesterday. We were with old friends. We caught the 9 pm family friendly fireworks before heading back to their home. We sang songs from the 80s and danced in the kitchen until the clock struck 12 am. Now you are gone.

I will grow another year older. The grey hairs on my head, a little thicker. And I will see my boy grow just that little bit more independent.

I started this blog in 2017. A few people had been encouraging me to write, but I never took it seriously until the night we almost left the country. My husband was interviewed by an international company and for a moment our family faced the prospect of leaving. Thankfully we stayed and so did this blog.

My very first post explored the nature of home and identity. And how I never knew how to answer the question Where do you come from? I started writing about the people I’ve met along the way, including my family members, both living and gone.

Then something unexpected happened. I wrote two sentences and posted an image of a coffee cup and it was discovered by the editors at WordPress.

It was taken when things were particularly difficult the year before. I was recording things that made me happy. I was trying to capture small moments I could be thankful for, and that bright yellow cup of coffee at a cafe overlooking the beach, was one of them.

There was Walk Together in October — where people marched for a welcoming, inclusive, community. It was a small turn out, but I was happy to be part of the group. Met an inspirational woman that day. I have forgotten her name, but I want to be just like her when I grow up.

Now the new year has crept up on me too soon.

I will celebrate 15 years with my husband this year and my son will start his final year of primary school.

They say Tennyson once wrote:

Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come,
Whispering ‘it will be happier’…

I have no such expectations. Perhaps it’s because I was happy in 2017, even with all its  challenges. I just know I am grateful to see another sunrise — to be alive in 2018. I am thankful for all the days in front of me and, God willing, more time to spend with friends and family.

I just hope it doesn’t fly past again. I hope it takes its time. I want to live and capture its moments before they fade from memory and disappear.

So, here we go again. Another time around the sun. Let’s make 2018 a good one.

Photo by Mohammed Hijas on Unsplash

via The Daily Prompt: Finally