Happy New Years!

Ok. I know most of you are wondering what in the world I am talking about but in our world of local government, today starts a new year. It’s that time of the year when Finance begins closing the books, reconciling accounts, and we can finally see how “close” we budgeted the past year. Today, departments are hopeful again. Spending resumes and the city can get back to business. But for the Finance department, it’s a time to look back and “clean-up” the city’s finances.

I’ve never been a big fan of New Year’s. I’ve had some good ones in my past but the whole concept of moving forward and starting a “new” year has been something I struggle with. I don’t make resolutions because to me they are the first thing to go. Amid all of the sparklers, party hats, champagne and Auld Lang Syne the outlook for the coming year looks wonderful. But upon waking the next morning, not only is there the hangover to contend with but there is all the “stuff” from the year before.

Much like our Finance department, someone has to deal with the past. It can’t be ignored and in most cases, until we deal with it, we can’t move on into the “Happy New Year”. As you might have guessed, I’m good at ignoring things. Most days I do a good job of removing things from my reality. But (there’s that damn but again) the things I ignore have a strange way of reappearing when I least expect them or want them to. I’ve been working on this since lent began back in February. I have “cleaned-up “several areas in my life and have taken stock of those things I need to reconcile. I’m a work in progress.

So for today, I am going to celebrate the new year. I’m going to wear my party hat and look forward because I believe that I’ve spent enough time in the past. I have many things in my life to be thankful for- good friends, family, my health, a good job, my church family- and I have many things to look forward to in the coming year- the tour, iron man, wild Wednesdays, half marathon, retreats, etc. If I spend too long looking into the past- I’m going to miss the world in front of me.

Happy New Year everyone! Today let’s celebrate the possibilities and tomorrow we’ll begin the process of closing the books.