In which the Meridian notes with pleasure that the new year has begun quietly but auspiciously . . .

. . . with the brewing of two pretty darned good pots of coffee: yesterday's being Eight O'Clock Coffee's Ground 100% Colombian (which I'd not used before, hence some initial apprehension); this morning's being some Williams-Sonoma Trattoria Blend Coffee, the beans of which were roasted over an oakwood fire. La-di-da. But very good, nonetheless.

So maybe I should overlook a certain melancholy I'm feeling just now.

To be sure, I appear to be in good company as regards that feeling (Hat tip: Belgravia Dispatch). And melancholy is not a bad thing. But is it odd to feel melancholic about the FUTURE? Or are those future things I find myself feeling melancholic about--my mother's aging, my older daughter's entrance into puberty, Mrs. Meridian's applying to law schools and the very real possibility that we will have to live apart at least for that first year--really just disguised reflections on the past?

Well, no matter: being human, we should, we have no choice but to, seek out and embrace change; stasis produces nothing, no learning, no growing. And so it is that this melancholy I feel isn't something to fear but to listen to.

The very happiest of new years to you all.