Limbo

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor

No, I don’t mean the “How low can you go?” game you play with a broomstick. I mean that feeling of being stuck in between that always seems to come around in the days that come each year between Christmas and New Year’s.

It’s a weird mix of “There’s nothing to do between now and the end of the year.” and “I’ve got so much to get done before the end of the year.” And somehow, both are happening at the same time. It’s very odd.

Now, of course, your mileage may vary on which one of those sentences applies to you personally. There are definitely things I will need to get done, like taking down the tree and giving the house a whole “de-Christmas-ing” to officially end the holiday season. I like to have all of that done by January 1st each year so I can give the house a bit of a “fresh start” for New Year’s.

See VIEWPOINT, page A5 VIEWPOINT

From page A4

I’m sure some folks are having to scramble here in late December to close out everything at work for the end of the year, like getting contracts renewed or new accounts set up or balancing the books or whatever it is that your particular job requires. Here at the newspaper, there has been a lot of “hurry up and wait” type stuff, as with both Christmas and New Year’s falling on a Wednesday this year, we had early deadlines to get both papers done this week and last week, so if some stuff looks a little off or seems a bit dated, sorry about that, but again, deadlines are deadlines and we wanted to make sure we got the news to you as best we could.

These in-between days are also a little difficult to navigate when it comes to family.

Like, my wife works in the education industry, so they are on an extended holiday break until like January 5th. My daughter is home from college for a couple more weeks. My oldest son is also off work until the end of the year, so he’s been coming over (and bringing his son), since his wife just started a new job a couple of months ago and doesn’t have any holiday time off saved up yet. I also have to work, “because the news never takes a day off,” my old boss used to say. But I largely work from home, which usually a pretty chill environment, but with all of these yahoos invading my personal space, it’s a little distracting, especially my “little helper.”

So here we all are, in holiday limbo. Still got a few days before we take action on any of those resolutions we’ve got planned (quit doing “X”… start doing “X”… whatever the “X” in your life might be). It’s just a weird time. Nobody really wants to do anything.

And you can’t really get all ramped up for something because the world will largely be shutting down again in a couple of days for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

So good luck with these weird few days, stay safe tomorrow night and I’ll see you on the other side of limbo…