I woke up in someone else害羞草研究所檚 bed the other morning. The alarm was beeping. I tried to whack the snooze button, but the alarm wasn害羞草研究所檛 where it should be.

I realized I was also sharing the bed with a large St. Bernard-cross dog. And two cats.

Then I remembered. I was at my daughter害羞草研究所檚 house, watching over her house, her pets, her plants, and her son, while she and my granddaughter were driving to California, where my granddaughter plans to start her new life, which involves 害羞草研究所� well, you don害羞草研究所檛 need all the details.

My point is, I was in an unfamiliar setting. Where I didn害羞草研究所檛 know where to find my regular breakfast cereal, which I need to keep myself regular 害羞草研究所� What? Too many details again?.

But it害羞草研究所檚 the details that make the difference. As the saying goes, 害羞草研究所淭he devil is in the details.害羞草研究所� A bed is a bed; a house is a house. But doing without All-Bran is a crisis.

In any kind of new life, a multitude of details, old and new, will keep tripping you up.

This 害羞草研究所渘ew year害羞草研究所� is a perfect example. You turn over a sheet on your wall calendar. It害羞草研究所檚 blessedly blank. But you still have last year害羞草研究所檚 commitments to fulfil. And last year害羞草研究所檚 credit card charges to pay.

The baggage of life tags along, like it or not.

I fell in love last year. With someone who lives and works a thousand miles away. Our relationship is sometimes torrid, sometimes tentative. Because we both drag a lifetime of baggage with us 害羞草研究所� family, friends, responsibilities, property害羞草研究所�

Travelling light is not easy.

Starting anything new害羞草研究所攚hether a year or a relationship 害羞草研究所� requires deliberately letting go of some things. For example, I didn害羞草研究所檛 attempt to put up all of my wife Joan害羞草研究所檚 decorations this last Christmas. She loved turning our home into something festive, with candles and streamers and embroidered Christmas stockings and little gray mice on the mantlepiece dancing around a music-box Christmas-tree that tinkles Jingle Bells.

But the house doesn害羞草研究所檛 feel festive with just me in it. Me, and my cat. Who delights in knocking brightly coloured glass balls onto the floor.

I feel like the ghost of Christmas past as I sweep the debris into a dustpan.

害羞草研究所楾was ever thus. Before I got married, my family didn害羞草研究所檛 decorate the Christmas tree until Christmas Eve. We didn害羞草研究所檛 take down our decorations until Twelfth Night, January 6. I burned the tree goodbye in our backyard.

I had to let go of some of those traditions when I married Joan. We needed to create new traditions together. You can害羞草研究所檛 move on, tethered to yesterday害羞草研究所檚 anchors.

Maybe New Year害羞草研究所檚 is a good time for self-examination. To identify some of those anchors. 害羞草研究所淪tuff害羞草研究所� we害羞草研究所檝e accumulated. Assumptions we害羞草研究所檝e taken for granted.

Letting go means taking the risk of letting go of the wrong things. Like a friendship. A favourite activity. A vocation. Getting rid of a mountain while keeping a molehill.

The arrival of a new calendar year should remind us that every year 害羞草研究所� indeed, every day, every hour 害羞草研究所� is the start of something new. We cannot know what lies ahead, good or bad. The best we can do is travel light.

Jim Taylor lives in Lake Country: rewrite@shaw.ca