We’re ready to close out 2016, and many Southerners can’t wait to wave bye-bye to 2016. There were historic floods that damaged thousands of homes in Texas and Louisiana. Many people still haven’t returned to their houses, and there’s no way to ever replace what we lost back in May.

            There were weddings and funerals, break-ups and engagements and a relentless stream of doom and gloom from around the world. We have a new president, love him or hate him, and there’s no telling what will roll out of the White House in 2017.

            Before we sweep the past under the rug, let’s look back at some of the memorable moments from our past.

Let’s start with the baby boomers. We grew up in a time where having school-wide drills to prepare for a nuclear attack were part of the day, just like fire drills.

            I remember the nuns teaching us to scramble underneath our desks and cover our heads if we heard the sirens go off. Fat good that would’ve done us in case the Russians – a constant worry – started launching warheads.

            But we had more important things to think about – how incredible our Huarache sandals felt and if Ken was ever going to marry Barbie. We loved our Etch-a-Sketch until we got bored with two knobs and straight lines and decided to bust the case open to see what was inside.

            We’re still drawing except now we use an electronic tablet, wondering, just as we did when we were kids, how the magic happens.

            There was Silly Putty we used to copy the Sunday comic just so we could stretch Lil Abner’s face to see how he’d look. Now we just take a picture with our cell phone, use a free app to manipulate the picture and then send it around the world.  We had metal roller skates with a key we always misplaced, and our bicycles all had banana seats and cool streamers on the high handle bars. Today our bicycles are in our bedrooms, don’t go anywhere yet make a great place to hang our dirty clothes.

            We hit our adult years disco dancing to “Saturday Night Fever,” and trying to sing like Olivia Newton John. We’re not dancing as much as we’re zoomba-ing or power walking in the mall because falling on concrete could mean a broken hip.

            But we still try and sing like Olivia.

            We left behind “Mystery Date” and found out real-life dating was just as surprising and confusing. “Night Gallery” introduced a new generation to the genius of Rod Serling, and most of us refused to admit we were secretly in love with Mr. Spock on “Star Trek.”

            The generations that know the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy were its defining moments understand that defining moments are made when good people rise up and do the right thing.

            We must have hope for 2017 for to lose hope means our children and grandchildren are robbed of the potential for greatness in a country that’s built on hopes, dreams, blood, sweat and a never-quit mentality. Let’s take those traits into this new year and, for good measure, take along a bit of tradition from the past.

            I believe reruns of “Night Gallery” and “Star Trek” are available for free on YouTube and I’ve seen an Etch-a-Sketch on the toy shelves. The soundtrack to “Saturday Night Fever” is a great accompaniment to power walking or a little bit of dancing in the living room.

            Now where’d I put those go-go-boots?

            Happy New Year!

 This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.