Happy New Year!

By Marivir R. Montebon
New York

A sore throat could be a blessing. Two weeks before the year 2012 came to close, I was down with sore throat. Down meaning unable to talk, and that is really down for me. So it was a good chance for me to keep quiet most of the time, and do my annual practice of discarding old, useless files and junk. In three days, I finished my clean-up, just in time when my immune system won the fight against my sore throat.

So I welcome 2013 with excitement and offer these professional and personal plans to the One. That is just who I am and accustomed to do, and I go my merry way, as usual.

2013 is the 13th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century. For the Gregorian Calendar, this is the 2013th year of Anno Domini and 5773rd year for the Jewish Calendar. For the Islamic Calendar, 2013 is 1434.

There is something funny about time. Although human beings box themselves in time only for purposes of measurement and memory, like in years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds, there is actually more to it than just the ticking of the clock.

The Kaballah definition of time is this: the distance between cause and effect, the separation of action and reaction, the gap between deed and dividend, the divide between crime and consequence, and the distance between good and its reward.

For somebody maturing, I gladly embrace this deep meaning.

Albert Einstein does not have an absolute definition of time. In fact, he says time is an illusion and has two definitions of it. Time to him is when the event is instantaneous (moment) and time of event duration (the intermediate between two moments, such as the moment the train leaves the station and the moment the train arrives in the other station).

On that note, there is no questioning Einstein. He was a humor-filled genius and a deeply spiritual man who revered nature and order and who did not think that a personal God would interfere in the natural laws of physics.

Time for me takes a pragmatic meaning too. I am blessed to have been shared a personal note by my favorite high school teacher in my autograph (you know, that famous notebook in high school where your friends define themselves, and love, and friendships, and crushes) which has shaped my attitude towards time for the better.

My Speech teacher Ramona Alino goes to write on my autograph: Time is precious. Don't waste any of it. Use it wisely and lovingly, for yourself and others. Do it now, before it is too late.

This note has stuck in my head ever since. And I have learned to value and make use of time, wisely and lovingly as much as I can.

For new year 2013, it still has to be that way.

Best wishes, everyone!

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The Blessings Jar

GRANNY GORGEOUS
By Sylvia Hubilla
Round Rock, Texas



Hours before the countdown to the New Year, my three girls and I were hurriedly checking our list – thirteen round fruits, check! Bubbly, check! Ham, check! Who is bringing the fish? Grapes? Check! And fireworks? Check! Looking good.

The table, laden with goodies that made it to the list, not only because of taste, but more important, because of the good luck it's supposed to bring into the New Year, was ready and looking good. Bring it on, 2013!

Preparedness is key. And it's all about lists – menu list, gift list, fireworks list, and of course, the New Year's Resolutions list. The latter though, did not make it to our list this year.

I noticed, as the years went by, that my New Year's resolutions kept getting shorter and shorter. This is not to mean that I continued to achieve my resolutions of the year before. Rather, it only means that my list of achievable goals realistically got less and less. Or put simply, I just did not have the motivation to keep on making a list which kept getting broken year after year. This did not do a lot for my self-esteem either.

It just occurred to me, that making a New Year's resolutions list is counting what you don't have. I decided I would rather count what I have. It's all about having a more positive attitude to goal setting.

So this New Year, I added something new to our tradition. On our Media Noche table, mixed in with the arrangement of 13 fruits, there were 3 jars, simple glass jars, festooned with holiday ribbons, one for each of my daughters' family. I labeled each “Family Blessing Jar.” Inside, to make it simple, I put the instructions on what to do with it.

Here is a sample of the note I placed inside each jar:

FAMILY BLESSINGS JAR
2013

Please feel free to embellish this jar any way you want to make it truly YOUR FAMILY's very own.

How To:
1. Every time you receive a blessing or a wish or a prayer comes true – write it down, put the date, and drop it in the jar! It doesn't even have to be a note – it can be anything: a note, a symbol, or something that will make you remember.
2. At the end of the year, the next New Year, you get everything out – and your family COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS! And then, if you feel like it, say a prayer of THANKS.

3. And start the New Year again with the EMPTY JAR, and a prayer for more blessings to fill the jar, and your lives, for the whole year!

HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR FILLED WITH BLESSINGS!

My oldest grandson, Xavi, asked me to explain. He is a linebacker in his Football team. So I asked him, “What is your greatest wish when you go into a game?” And he answered, “To win!” So I told him, and when you do, that is a blessing. And you can mark each and every win, put a date on it, and drop these in the jar. Blessings are not labeled big or small. They are not judged important or not. Because they are personal and subjective, each one is big; each one is important. They are obstacles overcome, finish lines crossed, stars reached, and dreams coming true.

I was happy to see my family on board with the idea. Who wants to make a list of resolutions, which at the end of the year, you have to pull out and see how many, if any, you even started. Will that make for a happy new year?
Wouldn't you rather, open that jar, and see the blessings spilling out and filling you with joy and gratitude? So at the end of 2013, as the family once again gather to welcome the coming New Year, we will open our jars, and count our blessings, and offer a prayer of thanksgiving, and start the new year with our empty jars!