Tabula Rasa

2005. That number really has no significance for me yet. This is the first time I've typed it. For that matter it's also the first time I've actually considered it.

Presently, I don't have an appointment scheduled anywhere on my calendar for 2005. I haven't made any plans to travel or to visit friends and relatives yet for 2005. Since leaving the youth ministry I haven't needed to organize any events that otherwise would of had me thinking about 2005. Jodie and I are settled into our new home and won't need to move again in 2005. I don't have any more friends who are moving to St. Thomas in 2005. No one I know is getting married in 2005. I don't even know what any of my friends are doing in 2005. I don't know which day in 2005 will be the start of baseball season. I haven't heard yet on what weekend the North Texas Irish Festival or Scottish Highland Games will be held in 2005. I haven't checked to see on what day of the week my birthday falls in 2005. Basically, I haven't thought much about the year 2005.

The year 2005 is like a blank page waiting to be filled. I don't have any great expectations, Pip, for the potential that it holds. I merely consider it empty and lacking any content. It's a blank page with nothing to tell. There are no words. The story hasn't been written yet. I don't know what to think about 2005. Nothing comes to mind. It's virtually a tabula rasa: a clean slate.

Perhaps that is why thoughts about the start of a new year instead stir in me memories of the old one. 2005 comes after 2004. Now that was an eventful year! Jodie and I found a new home in a new city in 2004. I left an old job for no job until I could find my new job in 2004. We heard friends speak vows of love for one another in 2004 while several other friends who had already spoken similar vows heard wows of love for one other born in 2004.

In 2004, we welcomed loved ones into our home, began grilling our meals outdoors (thanks for the gift, Bev!), ate crawfish and beignets, watched a few Rangers games, spent time at the lake, took a canoe trip on the Brazos, went on adventures with the youth, hosted poker and bunco nights, played games on Sunday afternoons, met neighbors at our first block party, attended concerts with family, enjoyed the company of friends at Thanksgiving, saw a new Cirque du Soleil performance, ate at Arlington's most romantic restaurant for our anniversary, unexpectedly visited relatives for Christmas, and even managed to celebrate New Year's Eve twice. Wow! We did a lot in 2004.

Now I'm beginning to wonder what might happen in 2005.