Happy New Year

Although I know it is not literally true, in my memory it seems as though I spent all the new year's eves of my youth at my best friend's house, having a sleep-over. Of all the blessings one may have in childhood, near the very top is having your very best friend live right next door to you, and your blessings are multiplied when she's from a big family so there are always lots of kids to play with. The Collins family lived next door to us a long time, then they moved to the suburbs for a short while, then they bought a house back on our block. Really the new year's eves I remember most are in that last house, where Mr. and Mrs. Collins still live. They had a great, finished basement with a wet bar (although as a kids' domain it was alcohol-free) and we'd spend the night down there, drinking hot Dr. Pepper with lemon (which for some reason was all the rage), calling in our requests to the local radio station, waiting to be called upstairs to see Dick Clark and the ball drop in NYC, then heading back down for another hour of revelry before ringing in our own new year. My own blessings are exponentially multiplied now, given that I still know and am in touch with my first best friend and her family, and I am thinking of them all today and remembering our shared traditions fondly. Edited to add: except that I'm pretty sure that Pat, like me, has never touched a fruit slice gummy candy (they were made to look like perfect little fake fruit slices, in orange and lemon and lime, but they were made completely without fruit -- just lots of sugar and gelatin or something) since that one year when they were living in Arlington Heights and we picked some up to eat on new years....