Champagne Wishes

Each year the end of the year on New Year’s Eve, we lift a glass of champagne to cheer in the New Year and ring out the old one. The tradition dates back more than 1,500 years ago when a reigning king of France was baptized in the Champagne region and it became the center for big royal celebratory events suitable for toasting with bubbly. That and great marketing over a thousand years and we are still popping the cork as we close out the year.

For some, drinking champagne is about getting drunk and forgetting what came before. For others, it’s the hopeful fizziness of the New Year to come. For me, New Year’s Eve is a time to toast the events and the people who touched my life in the year just past and even further back. This year, I’d like to toast those around us who make a difference while the world is in chaos around us.

Let’s toast Malala Yousafzai, who sharedtheNobel Peace Prize this year and who survived the Taliban to continue her fight for education and peace, and who I know will help to heal Pakistan.

Let’s toast Amy Pierson, the wife of fallen police officer Daryl Pierson, whose words brought together a grieving city and who continues to be wise and brave beyond her years.

In fact, let’s toast all the police officers who work hard every day to keep us safe and to safely do their job. While we are at it, let’s toast our armed forces who do the same in far off places. And let us toast each day that they and those who they serve to protect are safe.

I raise a glass to Tiffany Staropoli, who danced her way through her cancer and who now wants to help us all deal with everyday cancer through hope and healing. Let’s also raise a glass to the medical staff who helped her through her healing and who help all patients around the world every day, using their strength and knowledge to care for human lives one at a time, whatever the risk.

Let’s raise a glass and sing Auld Land Syneto those visionaries and leaders of our community who we lost this year, Larry andJane Glazer. Let’s applaud those who continue their efforts to make this city a vibrant and wonderful place. The young and creative people who choose to live here. And all the volunteers who worked tirelessly for hours and helped us to rank third in the nation for volunteerism.

This year on New Year’s Eve, I’ll be toasting with gratitude where I live, when I live, and with whom I walk this planet. And I’ll toast that New Year’s Eve is our annual reboot. The chance to do better next year. A chance to acknowledge what was right this year amid the chaos and the devastation.To toast the everyday moments that remind us why we are really here on this planet.

Let’s face it, the best part of New Year’s Eve is really just the last two minutes of the year as we watch the clock tick down to that fleeting moment of midnight when time stands still, and all is right with the world. It’s the moment when I kiss my loved ones and toast away last year with that sweet, gingery, ticklish, cool, sparkly concoction and say: “Cheers.

ChampagneCheers to you and yours.