Auld Lang Syne

A new year has come. It is time to put the past in the past and look forward to the future. I have made a list of resolutions for myself, and I am already delinquent in several of them, but a new year is all about starting over, so even though I am just five days in, I give myself permission to start over, again, and work to complete my goals throughout the year.

There is freshly fallen snow on the ground. I watched it fall yesterday as I lay snuggled under my orange blanket reading the final pages of a wonderful book. I think that was an almost perfect day. The only thing that could have made it better was hot chocolate. It is life's simple pleasures that fill our hearts when we take time to think about them. But they are also the first to be forgotten, almost as if the moment never existed. Like a snowflake. It brings so much joy, but then it is gone.

I started a new family tradition: Tuesday night dinner with Nola. I think it is great that she and Dan have some time to spend together, just the two of them, and I love the chance to cook new things and impress my mother-in-law. I woke up at 7am this morning so I could start the roast for tonight, and after all the tedious work was completed (removing the huge bone) and the meat was simmering in its sauce of root beer, onions, and garlic, I turned up the volume on the cd player, grabbed an ice-cream scoop from the dishwasher, and started dancing and singing around my kitchen. I think that is the way I will always put away clean dishes in the future!!! I was jammin' to The Four Seasons: "Oh What A Night", "Walk Like A Man", "Big Girls Don't Cry" "Opus 17" (my new favorite song!!!). It was so much fun and a great way to take my mind of the menial labor that had to be done.

So, where am I at the beginning of 2010? I am at home, with my husband, trying to be a good wife and learning the skills to be a good mother in the (near-ish) future. I am curled up on the couch with a good book in my hands and my dog at my side. I am content with my life and pleased with the prospects of the future. Let's see what the new year brings.