I sit here wrapped in my favorite cozy scarf, recalling all the New Years I have known, both as a child lighting up the dark country nights with my brothers and a bag of “firecrackers” to elegant dinner parties clinking champagne flutes as an adult. Yes, I am wearing my silver sequined slippers, y’all.
So, in 2013 Miley twerked, Ben Affleck became the new Batman, and Jane Fonda outshined all the young starlets in a canary yellow Versace gown at age 75. Michelle Obama debuted her new face-framing fringe just in time for her husband’s second inauguration in January, and it was the bang heard ’round the world. Personally, I thought the First Lady never looked better, and while the world was discussing her coiffure, her classy reply was, “Let’s tackle childhood obesity.”
We lost handsome Glee star Cory Montleith at age 31 and the talented “Fast and Furious” actor Paul Walker at 40. Abercrombie and Fitch told the world it will not stock larger sizes, and I say shame on them. Beyonce had a short pixie haircut for a minute on Instagram. Dutchess Catherine made pregnancy look marvelous.
Jennifer Lawrence won an Oscar, fell down the stairs, and chopped her long hair off sending shock waves through salons. Then Jennifer Aniston sent ripples through social media by tweeting her freshly-cut bob. Of course, Anne Hathaway went platinum for three weeks, and even I missed that one because it was over so quickly. Apparently she debuted her blonde pixie at this year’s annual Met Gala in New York. A few trends in the local movie theater and on the pages of Vogue were metallic sneakers, slogan sweaters and infinity scarves.
Kim Kardashian debuted little baby North West and revealed a post-baby bump blonde hair color that surprisingly looked quite smashing, another reason for some to dislike her. Julianne Hough went to a Halloween party in blackface (always bad form), and “The Sound of Music” went live starring Carrie Underwood, leaving me wondering what Julie Andrews must be thinking. Adam Levine was named People magazine’s sexiest man alive, and lots of people seem to think they got that right.
As you can see, so very much has happened this year as we say goodbye to 2013 and usher in a brand new year. With apologies to Jean Stapleton, we lost Edith Bunker and George Jones. Jean, you will always be Edith to me, and how poetic that my daddy went to glory the same year as George, his country music icon. I said goodbye to my beautiful mama in May only to learn my daddy would follow with a broken heart in October. Bless his heart, George may have stopped loving her today, but Daddy never did.
Through it all, and just for the record, I still love playing with firecrackers. Sparklers are my favorite!
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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