Posted by kabouter on December 31, 1998 at 16:30:33:

Holland erupted half an hour ago into a frenzy of light and laughter and noise as the New Year 1999 was welcomed with 6
million Guilders worth of fireworks in every street in front of every house in the land.

Somehow although I am not sure how the children managed to stay awake until the magic turning hour and they danced in the
flashes of green blue and red light like dervishes made much more mysterious by the gunpowder smoke that drifted everywhere
in the streets and between the houses. I saw every nationality outside.. dutch of course and also chinese and indonesian and
german and english and turks all of us with reasons to say goodnight to 1998 and look with hope and joy towards 1999.

Now we stand in truth at the dawn of a new millenium - more than just ink scratchings on old paper - something intangible. My
father emailed me tonight. He said something that moved me and it was something very simple about how he hoped that the
next century would be a less troubled one than this. He was 16 when he flew as a navigator in the Air Force in the mid century
war and his troubles never stopped then. I am so proud that he might even in his mid seventies make it into the next century...
and millenium.

I am returning to my roots later today, January 1st 1999. This involves me a lot of travelling not just in terms of geography but
in terms of the emotional map of my heart as well. Back to things I have half forgotten things that have shifted from the realm of
reality to that of dreams and now chance to burst back through that barrier of consciousness. Back to a simpler and an easier
time. A time of hope of love and of countless dreams back into lost love and love lost as well. A challenging awe-inspiring
dangerous blessed journey.

I will think of all of you all. I should be able to log on now and again. I may not want to. I am heading into summer. I hope it is
also a summer of the heart.

Happy New Year. Its the slow grinding end to a grey millenium that opened with a time called the Dark Ages. Maybe its just
old ink on a page - but if not then maybe there is a chance that the dawn of the new millenium will herald an era with fewer lost,
lonely and sad people in the world. Its something to hope for.

love
kabouter