Monday, December 26, 2005

In with the Old, In with the New

I hate new year's resolutions. They're usually made under duress and most of us really do not believe we'll accomplish them. I like, instead, to think of everything I've accomplished (lots or little) in the previous year and think about what I'd like to do in the coming year/years.

This year I bought a new car and a house, learned how to knit socks on double-pointed needles (I'm wearing my first pair now!), taught 9 wonderful English classes, traveled to Boston and Austin, helped my relatives through two hurricanes, read too many books to list here, wrote a few nonfiction pieces, created a web site for an organization I belong to, and who knows what else--a thousand small acts of kindness, thoughtfulness, silliness, etc., that I wouldn't remember if I were zapped with a cattle prod. The year, in other words, has sped by in a blur, as years tend to do as I get older.

I feel more settled; I have a place of my own to come home to and more order (As if I really needed more of that! I'm such an orderly person--places for most things, and most things in their places). I'm cooking more and eating more healthy food; I knit like a fiend and am not afraid to attempt what looks impossible (ergo, the socks). I'm trying to be more cheerful; not being organically predispositioned to it, I have to work at it. I'm trying to create more time for me and what I want to do. I see it as necessary selfishness--if I'm too stressed doing all of these tasks for others and deferring what I want all of the time, I just get crabby. And I'm not pleasant when I'm crabby. It just makes sense.

So, yesterday, after the Christmas celebration with my family, I came home and sewed on my great-grandmother's treadle sewing machine and I finished knitting my first pair of socks. I gave myself the whole day and I felt good about it.

Now, I must settle down and do the work for my spring classes and edit some WWII oral history transcripts. But, when I have time, I'm going to work on another pair of socks and plan a quick trip to Austin.

Life is full--of interesting tasks, of opportunities. And I want to experience as much as possible.

Have a wonderful (and pleasant) new year!