It’s 1998 all over again, with 2026 next in line
It’s 2026 all over again. Actually, it’s 1998 all over again, but they’re pretty much the same thing.
We came to that realization after our New Year’s cleanup targeted a shelf filled with old magazines.
The stack included a 1998 calendar, obviously long overdue for the recycling bin. We kept it for the beautiful nature photos.
More importantly, we now realize that those 12 pages are a quick-take diary of what we did in 1998. We jotted down a lot of milestones within those Sunday-through-Saturday boxes.
This all started with a quick look at the January 1998 photo, followed by a glance at the calendar itself: In 1998, the first day of the year fell on a Thursday.
Hmmm … Check the new wall calendar: The first day of 2015 was a Thursday.
Family birthdays? The days and dates match in both 1998 and 2015. They’re the same calendar.
So there is another way to recycle a 1998 calendar. Put it back on the wall.
A calendar doesn’t have an expiration date. According to online resources, this calendar grid has been rolling around every six or 11 years, depending.
Without going too far back, 2015 repeats the calendars of 1970, 1981, 1987, 1998 and 2009. It will be back in fashion in 2026.
(They’re not perfect matches. Many religious holidays are determined by the lunar calendar. Easter can occur from March 22 to April 25. New-year observances in many cultures also move around.)
So if you haven’t tossed your 2014 calendar, stash it away. It will be good to go again in 2025.
Even if you discard the old calendar with each new year, it’s worth a quick scan through those 12 pages. Our review of 1998 found seven weddings; two graduation celebrations; one job interview; a weekend getaway; and a young man whose name makes its calendar debut in December 1998. He’s now our son-in-law.
The same review also showed how some things, like the calendars themselves, just cycle around.
Our 17-year-old calendar has a dental appointment I’d scheduled on Jan. 27, 1998.
My upcoming dental appointment is on Jan. 27.
Another item jumped out. I plan to call a story source later this month. It shouldn’t take much of an introduction, because we’ve talked before. Her name and telephone number are on the calendar page for January 1998.
