Embrace the year 2023 before all the good luck kicked in – Orange County Register

Who doesn’t like to sleep in on New Year’s morning, especially this year when we didn’t have to get up early to see the Rose Parade?

I’d been lying happily in my robes all day when I realized I’d never picked up the newspaper. I took a quick peek out the window to make sure there weren’t any strays around, and made the decision in a split second that it was okay to walk out in my robe and purple slippers.

Longing for the days when newspapers were delivered onto the porch by a young entrepreneur on a bicycle, I quickly made my way down the driveway to where my newspaper usually arrives.

Just as I bent down to pick it up, I heard voices behind me. Please don’t let it be anyone who knows me, I muttered to myself, prolonging the time I sat in the driveway, my robe facing the sidewalk.

“I loved your column today,” said an unfamiliar voice from behind my lavender robes. Broken. Now there was no turning back.

I straightened my awkward posture, straightening up like my mother would have said, and protecting as much of myself as possible with a damp plastic bag holding the paper.

“Thank you. Happy New Year and good morning,” I ground out. Two smiling faces stared at me. It was 4:00 p.m. “Do this afternoon,” I added, carefully walking around the dogs with whom they went for a walk.

I dropped the paper to dry on the porch swing and went indoors to tend my pot of black-eyed peas simmering on the stove. I was excited to share them with a new friend who not only had never tried them but had never heard of the Southern tradition of eating black-eyed peas for good luck in the New Year.

As I stirred the pot, I started thinking about all the comments I’d gotten from people who had tasted my black-eyed peas for the first time. Most Memorable:

“Interesting,” he said, grimacing as he reached for his water bottle.