New Year's Resolutions

I have this really great friend from Buffalo (well, actually I have several, and in my experience the Buffalo folks are really the greatest...) Anyway, I have this friend from Buffalo who has a unique approach to making her New Year's Resolutions. She makes bunches of them - like 50. She figures over the course of the year, she's bound to mark at least a few of them off her list, which will make her a success. (One of hers was "meet Wayne Gretzky", and I'll be damned if she didn't do it!)

The more I thought about this approach, the better I liked it. I mean - don't most of us give up on our resolutions before the end of the month, and then we feel all crappy and guilty because we didn't "lose 50 pounds" or "give up chocolate." So I decided to take a shot at my own big 'ole list.

The other night while watching TV, my kids saw some kids (on the TV) playing at a waterpark. They both said "We want to go there!" I produced my syrup stained, written-in-pencil, torn off a used finger painting pad list and said triumphantly "Ha! #29: Visit a waterpark!" Not too long after that, my husband got ahold of the list. He said "#37: see Jimmy Buffet in Concert. Gee - going way out on the whole New Year's self-improvement thing, aren't you? This isn't a resolution list - this is a Bucket List." (a reference to the new movie coming out starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman - a list of things to do before you kick the bucket, hence the name "Bucket List.")

It's not a Bucket List. A Bucket List wouldn't read "visit a waterpark". It would read "Go on Safari in Africa." A Bucket List wouldn't include "see Jimmy Buffet in concert", but it might include "have Cheeseburgers and Margaritas with Jimmy Buffet." Who says that resolutions have to be 100% about self-improvement? Shouldn't it be a list of things you'd like to accomplish in the new year, things you hope to do?

I mean, sure... #28 is "take an airboat tour", and #16 is "go camping." #34 is "park 2 cars in the garage" and #10 is "go canoeing." But you know what? #4 is "spend more time playing with my kids." #13 is "call my grandmother once a month." #8 is "get more involved in charitable endeavors." #36 is "teach Karlin to ride her bike without training wheels." #35 is "teach Chase to write his name." Is there some middle ground? Absolutely! How about #12 - "grow tomatoes and strawberries." Or #15 - "Go see sunsets at the beach." Or #27 - "see a Space Shuttle Launch."

I think that every year is a new chance. A new chance to take stock in where your life is, appreciate all that you have and all that you have accomplished. A chance to wipe the slate clean of your failures and disappointments. We are only here for so long, and we're all so damned busy. We should really make a point to list all the things we'd like to do, that we want to do, be it self-improvement or helping others or just having fun!

So I'm going to add to my not-a-bucket Resolution List for a few more days, and then I'm going to start knocking some of the things off the list. Hell - I started today. I blew off putting away Christmas ornaments to take Karlin outside on her bike. I signed up for the Iron Distance Challenge Progressive Triathlon (26.2 miles running, 112 miles biking, and 2 miles swimming over the course of 1 month) - that at least begins to tackle #5 "Get healthier."

Happy New Year ya'll! I hope that there are flip flops in your future (if you're somewhere cold), and good friends, family, and fun in the year ahead!

Note: apparently the word "ahold" - a solid and well-know phrase in the southern language - is not accepted by the blogger spellcheck. Ahold - a-h-o-l-d - as in " I reckon ya'll might want to get ahold of a dictionary."