"I don't like that man. I must get to know him better" ~Abraham Lincoln

The Ott Lite I'd been eying for a while is here. It's a Christmas gift from my brother, Roman, and I just love it. (Thank you, bro!) It's small, cute, portable . . . and pink! My plan was to take it to stitching club events or use it as an extra light source during string quartet rehearsals.

But no . . . the new lamp has become the centerpiece of the worktable. I keep turning it on and off during the day, when there's plenty of natural sunlight -- just to see it in action. I love the illuminated on/off button that doubles as a tiny night light. Under the new little light, mundane tasks became mildly interesting -- paying the first bills of 2010, decluttering the overstuffed recipe file, removing a splinter from my thumb.

In the back of my mind I keep hearing the dialogue between Meg Ryan and Rosie O'Donnell in Sleepless in Seattle. "It's a sign!" one of them would cry, when ordinary events took on special meanings.

Maybe the new little pink lamp is a not-so-subtle sign for the New Year: To look at things in a new light.

To be thankful for being able to pay the bills . . . for having a kitchen to cook in . . . for having fingers to catch splinters in . . . to, as President Lincoln suggests in the opening quote, be the first to say hello.