New Year's Resolutions ; The New Decade

And so a new year has come, and many of you will be making resolutions (if you haven't already) to improve your lives in the coming year(s). I used to do that, way back when. And I can't remember a single, solitary one. It may have been to stop smoking (which I did when I bought my first new car), or something else. And no doubt, whatever they were didn't last very long.

So, some years ago I decided to make only one resolution each new year, and that was -- to only make one resolution each new year. And it's the one resolution I have never broken.

This isn't to say there is nothing in my life I could improve on. I need to drop 20 - 30 pounds. Work as been VERY slow (construction) and I've only been working 15 - 20 hours per week. So I come home early and sit in front of the TV (with cable TV, daytime TV isn't so bad; I've picked out my fave shows) and my daily routine is set.

I don't smoke or drink (well, a few beers here and there, mostly when I eat things like hot wings, pizza, BBQ). I don't run the bars, and I don't do drugs. But I don't exercise like I should to help keep the pounds off, so I guess that is one thing I should resolve to do.

But like smoking or doing drugs, I will make the effort when I'm ready to, and not because I tell myself it's now time.

.....

One of the things I do on New Year's Day is to go through my check book (yes, I STILL write checks) and write the new year up in the right hand corner where the date goes so I won't write the old one without thinking. And as I was writing "2010" it felt very odd. I can't remember it feeling like that ten years ago when I was writing "2000." Maybe it's because I am ten years older, and I know I don't have as many years ahead of me as I do behind me. (And yes, I have passed the half century mark [and yes, I intend to live to be 100!] )

In other words, as someone somewhere once said (more or less), "I am becoming aware of my mortality." The future is approaching faster and faster, and I realize I won't be seeing as much of it as I did when I was younger.

Happy New Year. And let's all hope it will be a better one that 2009.