Skip to main content

Here's to 2008

It's New Year's Eve. My daughter is out with friends. She leaves early tomorrow morning to return to Boston. Fred and Ginger are dancing cheek to cheek. My cat is on my lap. My wine is within reach. Considering the year I've had, it's practically perfect.

I've been thinking about this all day and decided that I won't do resolutions. I haven't done resolutions for many years - not really. It's just another chance for me to fail myself. So this year, I thought I'd give serious thought to what I'd like my life to look like in a year. And maybe that will help me focus on what is really important and let go of all the other stuff.

So, a year from now, this is what I'd like to be different from tonight. I should like to be more kind to myself, more forgiving. I should like to worry less about my body and my diet and feel like I've made changes that are healthy and life long. I shouldn't mind being alone, but I'd prefer a small gathering of friends. If I'm watching Fred and Ginger, I should like to be cheek to cheek with someone who very much wants to be cheek to cheek with me. I should like to know that I wasn't living a half-life, filled with fear of failure, fear of success, fear of rejection, fear of looking like a fool. I should like to feel that my own personal economic future was secure, as well as that of my country. I should like to know that all my family is safe and sound with their loved ones and no one is overseas serving in a war that never should have happened. I should like to see my daughter happy, even happier than she is now. I should like to know that she is content with her path and feels confident in her future.

Most of all, I should like to believe that 2008 was the best year yet, and that many more happy years are ahead of me. I should like to be kind. Very kind. To myself and to everyone I love.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Grapes of ???

I watched the John Ford film of Grapes of Wrath last night. I started out just enjoying Henry Fonda's wonderful performance - so easy and real. But I ended up wondering if our nation really learned anything from the Great Depression. What is the great crime in Grapes of Wrath? It's a crime to be poor. It's a crime to need, to ask, to worry. And it would seem that it is still a crime to be poor. We entered the depression of the 1930s a nation of haves and have nots. Those who had - those in power - scrambled to hang on to their wealth while the have nots scrambled to gather the scraps. And as I look around me today, as I listen to the news, I hear those same echos of those who have grasping for their power while the have nots silently fight to live and make it to the next day. Last night I woke up thinking about the recent discussion of the increase in the minimum wage and what it would mean to businesses and that it would actually cause jobs to be lost. It sounded ...
5 comments
Read more

Random Thoughts about my Mother

It's been a very hectic month for me.  I got very sick right after Thanksgiving and was barely able to hold my head up, let alone sit at a computer for long.  Got back to work last week and was good for the work day, but still pretty tired when I got home.  At long last this week, I started to feel like myself.  Then yesterday afternoon, my sister called me.  Our mother has died.  Not unexpected, but still a bit of a blow.  She lived nearly 92 years, her birthday is January 16th.  So in the interest of remembering my mother and returning to regular blogging, I present Random Thoughts about My Mother. Mildred Irene Wallock Watt.  My mother was born in January 1918...just before the end of WWI.  Los Angeles was a different place then, a collection of small towns, some manufacturing, some agriculture, some business.  Her father moved his family there when the film industry was locating there because the sunshine and variety of landsc...
5 comments
Read more

RTPT- actually on a thursday!

True Randomness...I'm teaching in 20 minutes. Then I'll get a break for lunch. Back to work. Break. Yoga. And then home. This morning I'm thinking about this guy that has been flirting with me. He's young and cute and makes me feel all sexy and stuff. But...he's really just good for an afternoon. You know what I mean? Not that there's anything wrong with a nice afternoon...or a nice weekend for that matter. But if what I really want is a nice partner, do I enjoy the occasional weekend while I'm waiting for him to show up? Guess there is still a part of me that is a good Catholic girl and wants to keep certain things only for very special people. Remember the downstairs neighbor - we'll just call her "CU" for short. Well, the other night, some guy pulls up in front of the complex, music blasting for blocks. Hops out and heads right toward her place. I knew she had a date coming over because she had arrived home shortly before, slamm...
3 comments
Read more