New year brings promise of hope

It’s hard to believe that 2019 arrives in just six days. I have just gotten used to dating things for 2018.

So much has happened in the past 359 days. Some of it has been good and some of it has been not so good.

Either way, I’m looking forward to the promise of what can be in the new year. The portrayal of the past year as an old, grizzled man and the coming year as a happy baby is so appropriate.

Each year, we all experience a variety of trials and tribulations. Regardless of whether the event brings joy or sadness, it can be exhausting. Yet, we eagerly anticipate what can be when the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve and we transition from one year into the next. We are fresh, wide-eyed and as enthusiastic as a child experiencing something fun, joyous or sweet and delicious for the first time.

As a Southern California native, it seems appropriate to me to start the new year with a parade. The Tournament of Roses parade is a festive way to spend the first day of the year — even if I only watch it on television from afar. The floats, bands and equestrians kick off the next 365 days on a high note that I hope can continue until the next parade passes by.

We start the new year with a clean slate or empty calendar and gradually fill it in with appointments, meetings, special events and celebrations.

This coming year will be no different. There are birthdays and anniversaries to mark. Holidays to celebrate. Annual events to attend. Friends to spend time with.

We will welcome new family members and say farewell to others. These highs and lows are inevitable.

In between there will be countless meetings and official proclamations and activities that we will chronicle in the next 52 issues of the Boulder City Review.

As 2018 comes to a close, we already know there will be tough issues facing residents in the days, weeks and months ahead. There will be decisions to be made that will have long-lasting ramifications.

What will 2019 bring? No one knows but as it has been in the past, it will likely be a mixture of good and bad — hopefully heavy on the good and light on the bad.

I wish all of our readers a happy, healthy and bright new year.

Hali Bernstein Saylor is editor of the Boulder City Review. She can be reached at hsaylor@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9523. Follow @HalisComment on Twitter.