Yesterday was New Year’s Day. How did you spend it? Went shopping or visiting friends?  Had a big dinner at a fancy restaurant or just stayed at home and watched some TV? For me, the first thing I thought of was to visit my father who was living alone in the countryside.

My dad has retired for many years and actually is not very healthy. We often try to persuade him to come and live with us, but he would rather live in the country. He is a person who will never let himself idle even a single day. In the small patches of land around the house, he grows various vegetables as the seasons change. Since my mom passed away 6 years ago, he has been living alone. And it has been my big concern ever since.

The farmhouse is about 25 kilometers away from where I live. So it should not be a hard trip if weather cooperates. However, the first day of the New Year didn’t seem very welcoming. It was quite cold and windy when I was riding on my motorcycle. Though I was wearing a crash helmet, my legs and feet, especially the two knees, really suffered a lot. It was so unbearable that I had to rubber one of them by turns while riding. And when I got my home village, both of my legs were almost numb. However, after warming myself a little bit, I managed to cheer up and greeted my dad enthusiastically, “Happy New Year, Dad!” Despite the fact that New Year’s Day is just an ordinary holiday in China, unlike the Chinese New Year, I wanted to give him a warm special feeling. I asked about his recent life and chatted with him for a long time before we prepared the lunch together.

Compared with other New Year’s Days, this year’s appears very common, but special and meaningful. Life is short and precious. We should never miss the chance and then spend the days regretting. Like many others, I used to think about doing some “great” things for the coming New Year, sometimes would even write a New Year resolution. The problem is that these resolutions seldom go beyond January. Making New Year resolutions has become a formality for many of us. I don’t mean it’s unnecessary to make any plans in life. However, if we are down-to-earth and observant enough, we have to admit life cannot be planned. The best policy is that once you think it is worth doing, do it right now. So let’s learn to live in the present moment and do the thing you think right immediately, no matter what happened yesterday or what might happen tomorrow!