in with the new, out with the old
Posted by Daniela Elza on Dec 31 2017
It is the last day of the year. This always harkens back to my childhood where gifts were exchanged on the same night on which the new year tiptoed in. Santa meant out with the old, in with the new.
I find that quite symbolic now. The idea of physical gifts is not as exciting as when I was a child, but the metaphor remains. The gifts I look forward to in the new year are the wishes I make, the hopes I throw into the days that lie ahead like little beacons that guide me.
It has been another year of growth and exploration and new beginnings. I got my first literary essay published. As an editor, I edited my first essay which also got accepted for publication. Needless to say the writer I worked with is thrilled.
I would like to thank all of you whose work I had the chance to edit this past year. It is an honour to be trusted with your words and poems. A precious cargo we ferry back and forth. I celebrate with you the success you have had in placing this work for publication. It brings me as much joy to see your work published as it gives me to see my own.
I want to thank all the editors, and publishers, I have worked on my own work with, and always appreciate the care you put to preserve its integrity and the way it is laid out on the page.
This was also a year in which I had the chance to go back home. My younger son and I travelled to Bulgaria. The last time he was there was when he was six. Now he is seventeen. We spent a week in Venice, where I finally met poet and dear friend Arlene Ang in person. Then we had a few weeks in Sofia, and one on the Black Sea, with my parents. An eight hour layover in Munich gave us the opportunity to meet Dorothee Lang, another writer artist friend who I had never met in person. Thanks to her, we got to see the old city, a bit of a large park, a bit of art gallery, and have lunch with various sausages at Hofbräuhaus, a famous 500 year old beer hall. Then the flight back to Vancouver.
It has also been a year of political and environmental challenges around the world. It is inevitable for those to not affect us personally in our lives as well. I hope for less of that.
I wish us all health. If there is good health a lot more is possible. I wish you all further success in all your pursuits in the new year. Let it be peaceful, and full of delightful moments, with laughter and love.