For Auld Lang Syne

At long last, we've come to those final, fleeting moments of the year. At the stroke of midnight tonight, we kiss goodbye 2015 and welcome with open arms the promise of 2016.

Not that this day won't be spent in some last-minute scurrying. There are the hard-working students and teachers who, realizing their last chance to sleep in and laze around is rapidly coming to a close, are diligently resisting all familial efforts to catapult them out of bed until after noontime. On the other hand, there are the Scrooges among us who have waited to the last moment to bestow their largess upon well-deserving charities, in hopes of bettering their tax standing with impeccable timing; for them, the race is on to beat the clock's midnight stroke.

And then, there are those of us who, realizing this is the last chance they'll have to buy the software that will enable them to download all of their data from their Ancestry.com tree(s), are in panic-stricken buying mode, trying to locate any leftover copies of Family Tree Maker before it becomes obsolete.

Or not.

The great majority of the rest of the world goes on, oblivious of such personal dramas. And they, as do each of us, likely find their mind centering on those acquaintances, young and old, long-standing or just-met, who have made the difference to them despite this past year's angst. It is those friends-who-stick-closer-than-a-brother—as well as some real brothers and sisters—who make life shine brighter for us.

Some of those acquaintances, of course, are the kind faces that flood our memory. We never want to forget them. Others, however, at least in this digital age, are friends without faces we've ever seen face-to-face—except, perhaps, as pictures shared on social media, or a blog, or other electronic means of communication.

Though you and I—with rare exceptions—have never met, if you are a regular here at A Family Tapestry, you are among those acquaintances I'm warmly including in this reminiscence of the past year. Thank you for being there—reading, commenting, sharing thoughts and passing along links. May you have a bright year ahead of you, attain the goals you've been striving for, and rest in the warmth of friendship and family—both close at hand and brought close by the wonders of the technology at our fingertips.

For old times' sake.

Above: "Sledding on a sunny winter day," oil on canvas by German landscape painter, Walter Moras; courtesy Wikipedia; in the public domain.