I woke up in someone else香蕉视频直播檚 bed the other morning. The alarm was beeping. I tried to whack the snooze button, but the alarm wasn香蕉视频直播檛 where it should be.

I realized I was also sharing the bed with a large St. Bernard-cross dog. And two cats.

Then I remembered. I was at my daughter香蕉视频直播檚 house, watching over her house, her pets, her plants, and her son, while she and my granddaughter were driving to California, where my granddaughter plans to start her new life, which involves 香蕉视频直播� well, you don香蕉视频直播檛 need all the details.

My point is, I was in an unfamiliar setting. Where I didn香蕉视频直播檛 know where to find my regular breakfast cereal, which I need to keep myself regular 香蕉视频直播� What? Too many details again?.

But it香蕉视频直播檚 the details that make the difference. As the saying goes, 香蕉视频直播淭he devil is in the details.香蕉视频直播� A bed is a bed; a house is a house. But doing without All-Bran is a crisis.

In any kind of new life, a multitude of details, old and new, will keep tripping you up.

This 香蕉视频直播渘ew year香蕉视频直播� is a perfect example. You turn over a sheet on your wall calendar. It香蕉视频直播檚 blessedly blank. But you still have last year香蕉视频直播檚 commitments to fulfil. And last year香蕉视频直播檚 credit card charges to pay.

The baggage of life tags along, like it or not.

I fell in love last year. With someone who lives and works a thousand miles away. Our relationship is sometimes torrid, sometimes tentative. Because we both drag a lifetime of baggage with us 香蕉视频直播� family, friends, responsibilities, property香蕉视频直播�

Travelling light is not easy.

Starting anything new香蕉视频直播攚hether a year or a relationship 香蕉视频直播� requires deliberately letting go of some things. For example, I didn香蕉视频直播檛 attempt to put up all of my wife Joan香蕉视频直播檚 decorations this last Christmas. She loved turning our home into something festive, with candles and streamers and embroidered Christmas stockings and little gray mice on the mantlepiece dancing around a music-box Christmas-tree that tinkles Jingle Bells.

But the house doesn香蕉视频直播檛 feel festive with just me in it. Me, and my cat. Who delights in knocking brightly coloured glass balls onto the floor.

I feel like the ghost of Christmas past as I sweep the debris into a dustpan.

香蕉视频直播楾was ever thus. Before I got married, my family didn香蕉视频直播檛 decorate the Christmas tree until Christmas Eve. We didn香蕉视频直播檛 take down our decorations until Twelfth Night, January 6. I burned the tree goodbye in our backyard.

I had to let go of some of those traditions when I married Joan. We needed to create new traditions together. You can香蕉视频直播檛 move on, tethered to yesterday香蕉视频直播檚 anchors.

Maybe New Year香蕉视频直播檚 is a good time for self-examination. To identify some of those anchors. 香蕉视频直播淪tuff香蕉视频直播� we香蕉视频直播檝e accumulated. Assumptions we香蕉视频直播檝e taken for granted.

Letting go means taking the risk of letting go of the wrong things. Like a friendship. A favourite activity. A vocation. Getting rid of a mountain while keeping a molehill.

The arrival of a new calendar year should remind us that every year 香蕉视频直播� indeed, every day, every hour 香蕉视频直播� is the start of something new. We cannot know what lies ahead, good or bad. The best we can do is travel light.

Jim Taylor lives in Lake Country: rewrite@shaw.ca