Exit Strategy

There’s nothing about January 1^st (aside from the whole new year thing) that makes it a good time to start over, so I’ve stopped making New Year’s resolutions.  There’s no point.  I hibernate all winter, which is the antithesis of rebirth and embracing the new. Yes, I always have a few good days of dressing up, being energetic, and working out in me, but other than that, I’m pretty much a bear all season, literally and figuratively.  

Today, as winter exits and spring begins, I find myself wanting to think about renewal, rebirth, and gasp, fruits and vegetables.  Therefore, I’d like to articulate my resolutions for spring.  Since I love some frivolity, my “foo foo” goals include running a 10K on Memorial Day, finally getting away on some mini-breaks (am feeling British today), and making some fantastic plans for EJ.  I would also love to have 6-pack abs, make a perfect soufflé, and learn to speak Italian fluently, but I’ll save those last few for one of my weekend lists.

More and most importantly, my main objective for spring is to work to find some beauty in every day. I’ve kvetched about this in the past, but as the last few days and weeks have painstakingly shown me, the good and bad times of life are in a constant ebb and flow, and if you aren’t able to find specks of joy during the horrendous times, you’re going to waste a lot of precious moments being pissed off.

People around me are sick right now, and I don’t mean goopy-eyed or runny nose sick.  Bad sick.  Knock-the-breath-out-of-you, catastrophic sick.  It’s horrible and sad; the perfect reason to curl up in a ball and scream about how unfair life is, which is exactly what part of me wants to do for them.  But, I can’t and won’t.  I will not squander our time focusing on the boo hoo instead of the woo woo.  Amidst the sad and the hard, I will help them laugh and find something to enjoy.  A meal, a movie, a joke, a video of EJ running around in his diaper…pear-shaped physique displayed loud and proud. And, if enough of these tiny moments accumulate, they’ll break up the dark…just like the stars in the night sky.  Happy Spring.