We recently visited the Mitzi Newhouse theater at Lincoln Center. As I walked down the stairs to the theater, I thought of the lockers that were available in the lobbies of the theaters at Lincoln Center. Convenient, especially in the winter, for coats.

However, the lockers are gone -- removed many years ago for security reasons.

In the lobby of the theater patrons are seated on the long bench recessed into the space that replaced the lockers. But some lockers remain in the narrow passageways to the side entrances to the theater. The keys are gone from the locks. Inaccessible and unusable. Yet a reminder of the ways things were.

As we enter the new year, I expect that there will be many changes. And there will be many reminders of the way things were.