Finally, it's a new year

Honestly, I could never have imagined a year like 2020. 

An out of control pandemic in the US, with 346,000 deaths in nine months? 

   — Not possible 

 A wildly dysfunctional, Constitution-denying president? 

   — Never happen.

Total inaction by those with the responsibility to rein him in? 

    —You can't be serious.

Clearly this shows a serious lapse of imagination on my part, because the correct answer to all those questions is certainly yes. I take comfort in knowing I am not alone in this but still, maybe we should have been more clear-eyed about the state of our democracy. Maybe we could have been prepared.

But today 2021 has arrived, and if I woke up feeling lighter I'm sure that had something to do with it.

This new year has a lot of expectations pinned to it and we should probably cut it a little slack. We can't all be vaccinated in one day, and we can't expect the Biden/Harris team to open the economy, correct social justice inequities, and end egregious financial disparities in their first 100 days. But we can hope for some of that, and maybe even expect it.

Curious, I looked around the Internet for what others are expecting from our newborn year. Some imagine 2021 as a "bridge" year; a cleaning-up-and-readying-for-the-future year. Numerologists say it's a "5" year, which signals that we will see change, optimism, tolerance, and increased cooperation. (I hope Mitch knows that.)

My psychic friend predicts a year of power shifts, with women and the young taking on more responsibility and masculine influence declining. That would be a healthy change with possibly far-ranging results. 

I'm no seer, but optimism and hope are logical emotions after suffering through the year we've had. Humanity has always found ways to look past disaster and find hope. I believe 2021 will be a good year in unexpected ways. Last year around this time I declared my optimism, and even as everything seemed to go from bad to worse I continued to feel that the insights we were gaining about ourselves and our country would be worth the pain. Today I know that's not true, because the pain of so many deaths and so much economic misery overwhelms any insights we might have gained.

But that doesn't mean they aren't worth having. I like the idea of a "bridge" year, a time to move ahead while managing our expectations. In many ways it feels to me as though we have turned a corner, that maybe the age of Aquarius really will be the change we've been waiting for. And I know this: change is good and it only happens in the now. Breathe.

Happy New Year readers, and welcome 2021—we await your blessings.