Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind? Should old acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne? For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we’ll take a cup of kindness yet for auld lang syne.
“Days gone by,” that’s what auld lang syne means. Every year when we take our first breaths of the new year’s air, we begin by singing a song that honors all that has come and gone in the years before.
The good. The bad. And that lay between.
2020 has certainly been a year without parallel. We have seen some of the very best of humanity. We have also seen some of the very worst. We have watched as people stood up to bullies with a gumption not seen in a long while. And we have lost many, many people who matter to us greatly, as individuals and a global community alike.
I was telling one of my best friends earlier this week that in some ways I am not ready for the new year. This is the last year I will have had my late husband with me. And it will also be the first New Year’s Eve I will celebrate without him since 2002.
But the promise of a new dawn still lingers on the horizon. And as Brad told me before he died, we are to live our lives to the fullest and fight the good fight as long as possible.
So yes, we will step boldly into 2021 and all that the future holds, even as our cloud of witnesses continues their eternal dance in heaven (including my husband, my mother-in-law, and my Uncle Steve – all lost in 2020). My prayer is that they will stay close. And my hope for all of us is that we will raise a glass and sing this song once more – because though the days ahead are promising, we must never forget the days gone by.
Even Before 