by Jason Ray France

Created on: August 06, 2009

When I look back on every New Year's Eve in my life, there is one that is most significant. It was my Junior Year in high school. I couldn't get a hold of any of my friends. They were already wherever they were going to be, or at least getting a head start on the evening's festivities. This was before everyone carried a cell phone around with them. I was miserable as I laid in my bed and sulked about my current circumstances. Why didn't anyone care enough to invite me along?

Mom and Dad were planning one of their boring older adult parties. It was going to be them and another married couple (their best friends) watching television and having snacks. If they really got adventurous, they might even watch a movie. It didn't sound very appealing to me, being sixteen and wanting desperately to be out with my friends. Just a couple of years earlier, I had hid in the staircase after bedtime to watch "Three's Company," but now I would rather die than join the geriatric crowd.

What I didn't know then, being young and invincible, is that life is fragile. Mom is gone now and has been for quite some time. Our home isn't the same, either. Not that it hadn't already changed with the times, but there are fewer touches of her there. Dad took a new wife, and the house has now been made her own. The couple that was visiting on that night never comes by anymore, either-he having passed away many years ago as well, and she not being able to bear it, because she misses my mom too much.

If I could somehow magically go back in time, do you think I would waste a single second trying to track down my friends? I would rush downstairs for the opportunity to spend even ten more minutes with my mom and to soak in the atmosphere that only she could foster. I would snuggle up next to her, have some chips and soda, and laugh at the silly movie that they were watching. I would be thrilled to be there, and I would soak in every bit of it.

I chose to spend that last evening of 1986 alone, feeling sorry for myself. I threw my very own pity party. After all, this was an important event. 1987 would be the year that I graduated from high school. All the while, there were people that loved me and would have welcomed me with open arms, just down the stairs. Embrace each moment. It may not be exactly what you thought it should be. The people that you would have hand picked may not always be there. Make the most of it, anyway. You never know, you just might miss what you missed one day.

"He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has." -Epictetus

Personal Challenge: When faced with a frustrating situation, turn it around and create a cherished memory.

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