New Year’s Day

It was cold. Somewhere between Christmas and New Years it had snowed and there was a fair amount of the white stuff on the ground. It was the most we'd had in over a year, enough to go snowshoeing. I had gotten into snowshoeing several years earlier, figuring I needed to have some kind of winter activity to keep me busy during the long months. You have to do something or you end up like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. I had a fear of going down hills, having fallen down a flight of stairs as a small child, so skiing was out, along with snowboarding. Cross country skiing was too rigid, ice skating too limiting and I didn’t have a snowmobile. Snowshoeing was perfect and made me a happy Goldilocks. Dad had a pair of snowshoes as well and we had gone a couple of times over by the Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust, about 9 miles or so from their house. 

Snowshoeing 2011

I woke up New Year’s Day, ready to start the year. Prior to that day Dad had been sick with what was thought to be just a common cold. I could speculate more on this matter, but I won’t, because it would be nothing more than speculation. This day; however, was the first morning in over a week that he felt good. So much so that he asked if I wanted breakfast. Usually more of a coffee for breakfast type, I said sure, thinking well he’s feeling better, he wants to cook again. You could always tell when Dad wasn’t feeling well, because it was the only time he would actually do nothing. And he had slept more the last week than I could ever remember him sleeping. He set about getting everything ready for breakfast. We were going to have the standard, eggs, maybe some toast and home fries (something I had perfected a couple of years earlier that Dad was still learning how to master). I distinctly remember Dad asking me to smell the bacon fat that was in the fridge (because that is the secret ingredient). “Does that smell bad to you or spoiled?” he asked. I smelled it. It was fine. “Dad, bacon fat doesn’t go bad, especially if it’s in the fridge, “ I reassured him. I thought it odd that he mentioned this, but chalked it up to he’s still getting over a cold and you’re never quite yourself when you’re sick.

After breakfast I said I was heading down to Acadia National Park for the afternoon to snowshoe, but that I would be back for dinner. I invited Dad along, but he declined. Bill, or Mr. C, as I call him, was coming over for dinner and cards. Bill’s wife Judy, had passed away only a couple of weeks prior, on the 12^th of December, after a long battle with diabetes. She and my Mom had been the best of friends since her son Michael and I had met in nursery school, some thirty plus years earlier. What's strange was after our mothers became friends we discovered our father’s had known each other when they were little boys in the Cub scouts. 

Dad and Bill on the way up Great Pond Mountain 2010

It really is a small world with few coincidences. Bill and Judy had retired to Maine only a couple of years ago, moving into a house the next town over from my parents. Since Judy’s passing Bill had been coming over to the house several times a week for dinner and cards. It was our small way of trying to help ease with the loss of his wife and for Mom, her best friend.

Dad informed me we were having a huge meal this first day of the New Year with roast chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, the whole nine yards. It was one of Dad’s favorites and so he was going to be busy all day preparing everything. He really was feeling better and quite ambitious I thought and left it at that. 

It was a gorgeous day in Acadia with the bluest of skies. The snowshoeing was spectacular. I had one of those hikes where you just keep going, wanting to see the view at the top of every hill or what lies around every bend along the path. The trails were fairly busy with people, shaking off the previous year and moving forward with the new one, I suppose. That’s what I was doing at least. I managed to get off the beaten path a couple of times to find some seclusion away from the myriad of people around me. The whole time I remember thinking how much Dad would have really enjoyed this. Oh well, I said to myself, next time. We have all winter, there will be a next time.

views from Acadia

Tiny Planet in Acadia

Soon I headed back home for dinner. I shared my photos and told everyone what a great day it was and that the next time I went Dad and Bill had to come with me. They agreed. After dinner, I headed into the TV room, while they all stayed in the dining room and played cards. As I sat in silence, having a martini to relax, I could hear them laughing and joking. It made me smile. The previous month had been rough for all of us, Bill and Mom especially, so it made me happy to know they were enjoying this moment. I remember thinking what a great day it had been and that this was the first day of a promising new year where anything could happen, where the unknown future was bright and hopeful.