A LIKELY STORY: SOME FRIENDS GET NEW YEAR OFF TO A GOOD START

With new jobs, travel and lottery winnings, some friends of mine are getting a jump on successfully living up to their New Year's resolutions.

Some friends of mine are looking to have a happier new year this year than last, leaving me to wonder what changes this year will bring for me.

Thanks to luck, persistence and a lottery ticket, one of my best friends will start the new year $25,000 richer. Coincidentally, this event accompanies Ray's recent promotion from a good friend of mine to my very best friend.

He called Sunday morning while I was skipping church and snoozing off a Saturday trip to St. Louis. I was still half-asleep when he told me of his windfall. All the times I chastised him for wasting his money on those stupid tickets flashed before my eyes. Maybe Momma wasn't right when she told me to be cautious with my money.

But Ray ignored my taunts with his natural good humor. He was as relentless and successful as Charlie, whose search for a golden ticket finally allowed him into Willie Wonka's wondrous chocolate factory.

I asked him what he was going to do with the money and he said he didn't know yet. Maybe buy a new car, take a vacation this year or fix up his house. I was glad for him and told him so.

Might change his resolutions for next year, though. Quitting smoking or drinking Diet Coke might seem less eminent with 25 G's sitting in the bank, don't you think?

My buddy Josh is starting off the new year in a new town. He and the fiancee are moving to Chicago where Josh hopes to find a good job.

Josh and I go way back. I still remember the long-haired hippie who shared my love for the Beatles and my disdain for anything that was not the Beatles.

We were younger then. Now we both realize that all you need is not love. Food, a house and a great health plan also count for something.

He promised to write and call now and again. Those discouraging words are well-intended lies and usually signal death for any long-distance friendship. Who knows, maybe Josh will be the exception. Good luck, old friend. I'm looking forward to the bachelor party in '97.

My friend Mike graduated from college in 1996, and he'll be spending this year looking for and getting a new job, too. He's never lived away from his parents, so this year is sure to hold lots of new experiences for him.

And finally, it looks like co-worker and another good friend, Heidi Nieland, will start 1997 better off, too. She got in just under the wire with one of her 1995 resolutions. She'll be starting out her new year at a new job in sunny Florida.

While I'm happy for her, the bulk of my emotions are selfishly saved for myself. Who will laugh at my dumb jokes at work? Whose dumb jokes will I laugh at at work? Who will listen to MY problems?

But, like Ray and Josh, Heidi will be happier next year. She's a fine reporter and a GREAT columnist, as all of you know. I wish I had half her talent and a quarter of her class. Knock 'em dead, girl.

While I look at these people, I wonder what will be so great about MY new year. What great things will I accomplish and what will be noteworthy in my life?

I will have a lot to be thankful for this year. I have a good job, a healthy son, a lot of friends and a loving wife who makes every night seem like New Year's Eve.

Maybe these things are the important things about living. Not what you have but what you do.

Happy New Year everybody.

~Scott Moyers is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.