. . .in with the new. That’s the saying, isn’t it? January1st is supposed to bring a new beginning, a perspective on the past year and resolve for the year ahead. Frankly, I stopped making resolutions many years ago, realizing that mine were too ambitious and therefore completely unreachable. I rather prefer to make “plans”, those things you intend to accomplish but can let go by the wayside if other things interfere. You’re off the hook with failed plans; everybody knows that “stuff happens.” Resolutions, on the other hand, are pesky things that require real commitment and are horribly unforgiving of one’s failure to keep them. Through the year, you’re reminded that this or that resolution isn’t being tended to, and through the year, you’re reminded just what a failure you are.

So, I’ve made my New Year’s Plans. They aren’t too lofty, so I think I might be able to keep them. Some of them, anyway. Time will tell.

  • 2010 was a difficult year for me healthwise. After a very productive 2009 holiday season of cooking, baking, decorating, gift-making & wrapping, etc., in January I was struck down (yes, it sounds dramatic, but I WAS!) by sciatica. I literally hobbled around for 2 weeks while we waited for our insurance to be in force. Through the year, I was in & out of doctors’ offices, using pain meds, going to physical therapy, having a useless spinal injection of steroids that gave only a few days’ relief from pain, finally going the surgery route with a spinal laminectomy. At the end of the year, I was still using pain meds because of the damage done to the sciatic nerve. I’ve been assured it WILL heal in time (is that a resolution, a plan, or a promise? I can’t tell.) My 2011 Plan: I suppose the only thing I can do here is to avoid the deterioration of bone in my back (someone tell me how!) Okay, it’s a plan! 
  • Finances went downhill. Through 2010, outgo increasingly overshadowed income, so that by Christmastime, we felt very Dickensian; there were times when I could swear we were reenacting the scene of the Bob Cratchit family’s Christmas “feast” in A Christmas Carol. The only things missing were Tiny Tim’s crutch and the steamed pudding.  My 2011 Plan: make more money. This seems fairly simple and straightforward, as plans go. But, the devil, as they say, is in the details. 
  • Two weeks before Christmas, I came down with a cold, which became a sinus infection, requiring yet another visit to the doctor the day before Christmas Eve, more meds to take and the directive to NOT attend church in case I might be infectious to others. So, Christmas Eve saw my eldest, Kate, (also sick) and I left behind as everyone else trekked to Christmas Eve Mass. Major bummer.  My 2011 Plan: eat healthier, exercise more, get enough sleep, avoid people.
  • We’re very cramped in our little apartment. Six large people in a small space wears thin after a few years, and it’s time to go. My 2011 Plan: find an affordable house to rent. That’s not asking too much, right? Well, judging from the inflated rental rates in our area, this might be more in the “act of God” category.
  • I have this growing desire to transfer my attentions from passive things (TV, movies) to more creative pursuits (Bible study, music, acting, writing, calligraphy, sewing, gift-making, organizing my home, etc., etc., etc.) My 2011 Plan: realizing that this item borders on the “resolution” category, I’ll be careful in saying that I’ll plan to do as many of the things I’ve listed as time, health, energy and other unexpected occurences may allow. 

Resolutions, plans or no, I have high hopes for 2011. It couldn’t get much more difficult than 2010. But we endured that year, and I plan to do better than endure this year. But stuff happens.