This is the time of year when my mother and I start working on our New Year Resolutions and tell them to each other on New Year's Day. Mine are usually pretty simple: things like eat more fruits and vegetables. One year in 1997, after a particularly hard year for her with asthma, a heart attack, and other ailments, she said, "my goal is to live to see the year 2000." I kept that in mind a lot that year, and prayed and prayed that it would happen. Now it is 2005, my mom is 95 years old and is still living in her home, playing bridge twice a week (and winning), enjoying her friends at the senior center, getting picked up every friday for her weekly trip to Wal-Mart and having her hair and nails done every week. She is enjoying good health right now, and a good life.
I am so grateful every day that her quality of life at this age is so high. I think about this all the time. When I call her on the phone, her voice is strong and sure when she says, "Hi!". I just want to fall to my knees and thank the Lord every time!
My new year's resolution this year is to be quieter, calmer and nicer to people around me and to never interrupt, but always to wait until the other person has had their say. A bad habit of mine is that my enthusiasm in a conversation bubbles up and I say stuff before the other person is finished. I'm sorry for this, and I try hard to keep my (big) mouth closed. Sometimes I hold my lips together hard to stop myself from talking; that's the truth. It is a problem I have had for a long time and this year, by God, I'm going to break myself of it!
Another resolution I have is to clean out my storage unit and find the plates that belong to my mother's china pattern, Noritake Camelot. I have all the pieces and have added more through Ebay this year, but somehow in the move, I misplaced the box with the 8 plates and it is buried and I need to spend hours over there going through stuff to find it. Tacked on to this resolution is the resolve to throw out and give away a lot of things that I do not want anymore and which I moved anyway out of hurry and indecision.
Losing weight is the most common New Year's Resolution for most of us, and one that has to make my list again this year. Especially after the cookie fest of this Christmas, it is time to stop again on the ol' flour and sugar, and get to the fruits and vegetables. Oh, I said that.
And I'm going to work hard on events around World Hunger at my church--to try to do what I can to help in this hurting global world of ours. I'm going to stop complaining about evening committments at work and at church, and be less of a "pitiful Pearl" when I have things to do that take me out at night and away from my knitting chair. Life is meant to be lived, and if that means that I am tired sometimes, well...so what. I will use my mom as an example and be more flexible, more accepting, and clean the cabinets more often. (An old joke is that my mom is a much better housekeeper than me, and I am often outside cutting flowers when I should be inside cleaning the refrigerator or something.)
My main resolution is to be easier on myself and others, to enjoy life more, laugh as much as I can, and be grateful for every breath I breathe.
God is good. Happy New Year!
