There was a pop radio station when I was a kid that posted a top forty list every week. While my brother picked the list up at the grocery store, the list was a staple for every teenager following the folk and rock hits in the sixties, which was every teenager. My brother (Mad Magazine’s twin), poured over that Casey Kasem’s hit list every week, and our radio was kept on a steady hum on December 31st until the countdown reached Number One at midnight.
That countdown got me thinking… What is the moment I’d replay a few minutes before midnight if I were counting down my favorite moments from the year? The likelihood of me counting down anything at that hour is slim to none, as I plan to be sound asleep. But let’s say I did stay up to bring in the new year, what would be the moment I would hear at midnight? Would it be a moment of personal accomplishment, or some purchase that brought temporary happiness? How about a memory of one of those perfect days when everything feels right in the universe? I did have a few of those days last year, but they were fleeting. If I was to pick a memory like picking a song, it would have to be one that is catchy and has good staying power over time – a golden oldie.
For that kind of memory, I turn to my grandkids, and creativity. When those two cross paths, we get hits that just keep on coming. This year, lucky me, there were a lot of those with Cash (4) and Carter (2). There were the spontaneous hugs and I love you’s. There was the impromptu lemonade stand we made together that brought out all the neighbors. Our moments also included many walks in the woods looking for earthworms under logs and talking to owls we couldn’t see. As I remember, we had another moment where the three of us tried to stand on a frisbee at the same time so their dog, Piper, couldn’t run away with it. That one ended with me falling on top of both boys, and two of us crying. Somewhere in the middle of the summer I connected our hands together with rubber bands and we did a crazy collaborative painting whose result was better than any Jackson Pollack you’ll find in a museum. There were morning, noon, and bedtime stories that I made up ala Dr. Suess, including one about an imaginary family called the Slappies. Family members from this story included Pappy Slappy, Mappy Slappy, Gandpappy Slappy and Grandmappy Slappy. The kid’s names ranged from Appy to little Frankie Zappy, and I could go into the names of their pets, but I think you get the idea. I stopped that story when Grandpappy Slappie had to go to the bathroom and ran off to use the cr…well… you get the idea. And tops in the running for Moment of the Year would have to include the Christmas trip we made to the grocery store to buy ingredients for Grinch Pie, a mixture of the most disgusting things humans can put in a pie crust, including one stinky sock, and a jar of mushrooms that looked like slugs.
Wow. Take a breath. That’s a lot of highlighted moments! But when all the lights have dimmed, and the wrapping paper has been put away for another year, I have to vote for the quiet “little while” when the world got a bit brighter for me. It was 70 degrees outside Christmas day, and while we were still dressed in our PJ’s, Cash, Carter, and I took a sleepy walk down the street. We held hands the whole time, stopping now and then to point at the beautiful contrails in the sky, wave at cars that looked at us curiously, and drop rocks down manhole covers. Those moments won’t get a half-million views on U-tube, but on that peaceful walk holding hands, a great hit rose right to the top of the charts for me. It’s one I think we can all hum to, one that I know I’ll play over and over in my head for a long time to come, long after the ball drops to bring in 2022.
Be happy, be safe, thank you lovely readers who read this blog the last year. You made my top forty list. May you feel loved and hold each other’s hands in 2022! As Casey Kasem always said, “Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars!”