Rockin' New Year's Eve

My mom used to tell me that the way you spent New Year’s Eve was supposed to be some indicator of how you were going to spend the rest of the year. Well, if that’s the truth, let’s forecast 2012 for a minute, okay?

It will be loud and a little chaotic. It will be jam-packed full of giggles and dancing and messes and  hitting and I’m sorry’s and kisses and I love you’s.

Jeremy and I thought about doing something. We even planned some stuff. All of it fell apart with a tired wife and an injured husband and two kids that hadn’t both been home with both of their parents in what had started to feel like forever. With Jeremy’s new schedule and the split shifts I work during the week, finding us all four hanging out in the living room floor is a pretty rare thing.

So, instead of going out, we’re home, in our jammies. On the menu: Pizza. On the television: Megamind.  On the agenda: Not a whole lot. The truth is all of the anti-excitement that’s happening tonight is kind of what we all four needed. If Mom’s superstition is true and I will get more of these kinds of nights in the next 12 months, I could get really right with that.

At midnight, I’ll kiss my husband, just like I’ve done every year since New Year’s Eve 2000, except this year (unlike the last few) I won’t have to wake him up first. His new found nightowl-ness is definitely something to thank 2011 for.  The fancy clothes and the fancy shoes and the fancy cocktails will have to wait until next year. Truth is I’m really not a huge fan of fancy shoes anyway. I’d rather wear my slippers.

Thanks for the cuddles, 2011. You’re alright in my book.

Yay December!

It would be ridiculous to try and start where I left off, so let’s do the quick version, k?

The last couple of months, since my computer crashed and I had no computer and my computer left me and I was alone and abandoned, have been good.

Seriously, good. Busy, but good.

My kids are healthy and my marriage is healthy and my life is a little hectic and a little messy and a lot loud and a lot happy.  It’s not like you missed much. Just a lot of mushy ramblings and notes of contentment. New jobs, new starts, new words and discoveries and awards and superheroes. Good stuff. Good, good stuff. I didn’t get a chance to write about all of it. I’m trying to learn to manage my time better. And, you know, the computer thing didn’t help. But, the good news is, here we are in December, my favorite month of the WHOLE year. My birthday, Jesus’ birthday and Santa brought me a brand spankin’ new laptop. Yay December!

With everyone already starting to talk about the New Year and their resolutions, I started thinking about whether or not I’d ever actually made one…and kept it. I can remember making the ones to lose weight and to keep my house organized. Those usually lasted a few days, at most. There was the one (or two or three) where I resolved to finally finish my degree. (Hint: I enrolled in my first college course in the fall of 1999) And, of course, the one where I quit smoking…

I went back and read the first two blogs I wrote at the beginning of the year. The first one, while I hated it later, makes sense to me now. It was about being happy. That was the goal for 2011. When I got to my second post, I had decided that the first post was stupid and tried to start over. The final draft of the goal was actually just to Be. And by doing so, to write. I’m really glad I didn’t follow my natural instinct and delete the first post. It’s like me to do that. To take something that I feel, think, want and disregard it later just because it got too tough. Too uncomfortable.  Too intense. I think, looking back at the last year, both goals still hold completely true for me. I want to be happy. duh. Don’t we all? I also want to Be.

To Write.

Why I couldn’t see the connection between writing and happiness, in being, then, I haven’t quite figured out yet. But I’m working on it. And that totally counts.

So, instead of starting to worry about what I have to change for the next year, I decided to just get a little excited about what I’ve already done.

This marks my 15^th post. Do you know how many posts I had in 2010? None. I’m not super good at math, but I think 15 is more than none. Since my resolution, in part, was to write, I’m going to put that in the success box. I’m sure there will be something in 2012’s about consistency and content and blah, blah, blah…but we’re not there yet. We’re getting excited about 15 posts, remember?

I decided to write and I wrote. I didn’t get published. I didn’t write a novel. I didn’t write every day.  I didn’t even take a legitimate swing at having an actual blog. But, at the end of the year, I wrote, which is exactly what I set out to do.  

I have had a couple of people ask me when I was going to write another post. I guess the answer is…Now. The writing thing is still on the top of the list. We’re just going through a few learning curves. It happens. Don’t expect any new resolutions until I get a better handle on this one, though. I’m making a new rule for myself: I DO NOT have to feel obligated to make a New Year’s resolution if last year’s is making adequate progress.

It’s making adequate progress. I promise.

Oh and, silly enough, the original destination of happiness has managed to somehow find a cozy spot right next to writing and the two have found a way to exist, and thrive, together.