Happy New Year, Aquinnah! I’m hoping someone will throw together a dance party (up Island, please) tonight so that we can all dance in the New Year and then not have very far to drive home.
Has anyone made any resolutions? I have only one resolution for the upcoming year: to actually enjoy the summer here. I used to, back in the days when I was just a summer resident, but then I moved here full-time and something shifted. The traffic got really annoying, the summer people became very entitled and the prices of everything on our already expensive island seemed to go up even higher. In short I began to take everything personally. Everyone who didn’t live here year-round was suspect to me unless they could prove that they were just hard-working people who had saved for a nice vacation. What were all these people doing on our island anyway? And why do they all drive such big cars? I don’t want to spend all of August wishing it were over, so that is my resolution: to enjoy my time here, all the time, but especially in the summer.
The library and any official office in Aquinnah will be closed on New Year’s Day, but the library will reopen on Saturday, when you can stop in and make a snowman cupcake. Or you can just come in and get a book or a movie. Your call. The cupcake making will start at 12 noon.
In honor of her deceased partner, Carl Widdis, Pam Glavin has placed a Christmas tree at his gravesite for people to visit and place a holiday wish for someone in need on the tree. Pam’s announcement reads, in part, “Visit it and place your Christmas wishes and hopes for now and ever after there…maybe with a little of Carl’s Christmas magic and help from you, you can make someone else’s dream come true and pay it forward for Carl, too.” If you know of someone who is suffering or going through a rough time, visit Carl’s tree and make a special wish for them. I’m sure Carl has an in with the forces of the universe that bring good fortune to people and your wish will be granted.
The Aquinnah holiday party was such a treat last week. It seemed as if the whole town was there (except of course for the people off Island with their families). Nancy Benoit, Kayla Manning, Noli Taylor, and Melissa Mahoney did a great job decorating the town hall; it looked so cozy and festive. Theresa Manning and Alex Taylor aka Santa’s elves did a wonderful job picking out gifts for every single kid in town (and there are a lot of them these days). And then of course there was Santa, who delivered all the gifts. That was definitely the highlight, watching all the little ones trying to sit patiently until their gift was pulled from the bag and they got to go up and sit on Santa’s lap and finally get their present. Some kids were a little older and too cool to sit on Santa’s lap and others were young and a little frightened of Santa and needed a parent to hold them on his lap. The floor was a sea of torn wrapping paper and tape by the end. And I think all the children went home happy. Thank you to everyone who contributed food and time to help make it a special evening.
Happy Birthday to former Aquinnah librarian Jenny Christy who is a New Year’s Day baby and to Megan Ottens-Sargent who celebrates on January 6.