The Lullaby That Lingers: A New Year’s Day Heart-to-Heart

This morning I sat quietly with a cup of coffee, still feeling the echoes of last night. I wanted to reach out and check in with you, because I know New Year’s isn’t always just about "out with the old and in with the new." Sometimes, it’s about sitting deeply with the "old" and realizing how beautiful it still is.

Last night, I found myself hitting "repeat" on John Denver’s “For Baby (For Bobbie).” For those of you who know it, you know its tenderness. But for me, it’s more than a song. It was the lullaby I sang to each of my three daughters when they were babies. I can still feel the weight of them in my arms, the smell of their hair, and that fierce, quiet vow: “I’ll do anything to keep you satisfied... I’ll love you more than anybody can.”

The Mixed Tears of New Year’s Eve

I’ll be honest: the tears were flowing last night. They weren’t sad tears, exactly, but they were "mixed."

I cried for those nights by the crib. I cried because those three babies now have their own children—and some of those grandchildren are now adults themselves. It is a dizzying, beautiful, and slightly overwhelming thing to see the circle of life move so fast.

The holidays have a way of magnifying that, don't they? They bring the memories to the surface like a high tide.

My Advice for Today: Let the Pressure Go

If you’re feeling a bit raw today, or if the "New Year, New You" energy feels like too much noise, here is what I want to say to you:

• Feel the emotions: Don’t push them away. If you need to cry for the years that passed or the people who aren’t at the table this year, take the time. Those tears are a testament to how much you’ve loved.

• Release the pressure: We don’t have to "conquer" 2026 by sunset today. We don’t need a list of twenty resolutions to be worthy.

• Just be: Take today to relax. If the most you do today is breathe, remember a sweet lullaby, and rest your feet, then you’ve done enough.

The "morning bells" are still chiming for us, sisters. We are the keepers of the stories and the singers of the lullabies. Let’s start this year with gentleness toward ourselves.

How are you feeling today? Was there a song or a memory that caught you by surprise last night? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Marge Farrington  OWRO