“For me, just getting a new start is good enough. I ain’t really putting no meaning to New Year’s Day but I just happy that in the new year I not the same way I start out and for that I just thanking God. It is not like I saying life perfect, I wish it was better, but [she paused] I not sure how to explain it but I feel like I free. I just feel better about myself. Yes, that is it I feel better,” she said, speaking the last words slowly.
This sister and I had a conversation weeks after she started over and while it was a few weeks before December 31, 2019, she was still referring to the New Year because for her being where she is now is a good start for January 1, 2020. I met her through an acquaintance as she struggled to rid herself of a relationship and an environment that had done nothing good for her over the years. It took her years to get to where she is today, and it was not easy talking about it. In fact, we did not have one conversation, but three over a period.