Another year has come and gone, in a blink of an eye, and I thought, without any fanfare. And that’s been mostly true in the past, it’s been my choice, our choice, to order Chinese takeout, rent a movie and go to bed by 10 pm, a perfectly lovely evening, but no fanfare. 2019 is coming to an end, and a new year, with a clean slate, is about to begin. Where, are the fireworks?

Well, this year, the fireworks for me and Day will be in Saigon, at the Saigon River Tunnel (Ham Thu Thiem). Yes, another vacation for me and Day, Vietnam and Cambodia, and it begins in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) in time for New Years. We land around 7:30 pm, on New Year’s Eve. Our AirBnB is just a few blocks from Nguyen Hue Street, a lively pedestrians’ only street, with food vendors, street performers and shops. From there we’ll be able to watch the fireworks over Song Sai Gon, the Saigon River.

We’ve never made a big deal over New Years. One year ends and another begins, with little to no notice, or, fanfare. I’m feeling different this year though and I’m looking forward to fireworks, of course it helps that we’ll be in Saigon.

Writing a post takes some time, and I started writing this one before our trip began. But now New Years is behind us and it didn’t happen quite the way I had expected (it goes without saying, the above photo is not mine). We never made it as far as Nguyen Hue Street, the crowds of people were nearly impenetrable. We were about 2 blocks away when we turned around and headed back to our AirBnB. We saw the fireworks, just not from the best vantage point, nor was it some magical moment of reflection over the past year, and hope for the coming year. We stood in the middle of a busy street along with hundreds of other people and watched the fireworks from a less than spectacular vantage point, but it was fun.

For the last 10 or 15 years Day and I have talked about what our lives would look like when I turn 55. Would I still be working at Pioneer Valley Concrete Service? Would we be retired? Maybe we would downsize and be semi retired? Would we be living in the States, or abroad? Fifteen years ago, I sets my sights high, and said, “retired and living on a boat.” Clearly that’s not happening, but we set goals, some we make and some we don’t.

I began 2019 with a pretty comprehensive New Year’s resolution plan (laugh if you must). I am a firm believer in setting goals, and setting them pretty high (I miss most of them). The theory behind that thinking is simple, “shoot for the stars, if you miss, you may hit the moon.” 2019, Day and I hit the moon. 2020, I’m shooting for the stars again. We have a pretty big year ahead of us and I’m looking forward to writing about it, and excited to see what our lives might look like next New Years.

For now, I’m pretty excited about Vietnam and Cambodia!

Luv ya,
Curly