Here's hoping...

On Tuesday my cell phone prompted me to read the text message that had just arrived.

Text messages are about as technologically advanced as I get. I know how to read them, but unless I have an instruction booklet in my hand, I pretty much don't know how to send them. (Note: If you send me a text message and I don't respond in kind, I'm not ignoring you. It's just that texting is beyond me. In fact, I might actually call you back. Heaven forbid, I might even leave a voice mail, my other concession to technology.)

My logic tells me it's still more convenient to actually speak with somebody on the phone one-on-one as opposed to thumbing my way over a minimalist keyboard to bang out an essentially vowel-less message that, in an effort to save alphabet characters, resembles something like an Ultra secret code.

The message I got was from my neighbor across the street: "Pls come help us bring n 2015 @ r house. BYO Bevs Snax2Share & Games. Firepit & Fun! See u 2moro @ 7 pm!"

I got about halfway through the decoding process when I realized my neighbor was inviting us to a New Year's eve party.

Yay! I was Xcited.

Kim had received a similar message at work, and we immediately made plans. I went to the store and bought my bottle of Korbel and she decided to make her famously sinful pralines.

A day later and party time had arrived. We decided to arrive at 8 p.m., but a nice little crowd of friends and neighbors had already assembled. I'm guessing there were about 30-35 of us roaming through their house. A TV was on and several of the guys were watching Georgia Tech dismantle Mississippi State 49-34 while elsewhere little knots of people collected here and there for small talk.

About nine-ish several of us went outside and gathered around the firepit. Even though the temperature hovered around freezing, there was no wind to chill us. That was nice. And what is it about firepits that are so mesmerizing anyway?

By quarter to midnight, those of us who brought champagne were uncorking the bottles. Everybody jammed into the TV room and the kids counted down the seconds as the Waterford crystal ball dropped and lit up 2015. We shouted Happy New Year to each other and shared hugs and kisses while privately hoping for the best.

It doesn't get much better than that: friends coming together surrounded by laughter, camaraderie and each other.

If nothing else, I think we got the new year off to a good start.