Happy Holidays everyone! I hope that in whatever fashion you celebrate this time of year, it was fruitful and joyful. For my part, the Holiday Season is the best season. Starting at Thanksgiving (which my family slays), reaching it’s crescendo at Christmas (which my family slays), and culminating with New Year’s Day (which my family seems to acknowledge with benevolent aplomb).
2016 was in many ways like this pork roast I once made. The sides and appetizers were pretty good, but the entree tasted almost exactly like vomit. I’m glad to see it go. As an optimist who believes whole-heartedly that there is balance in the Universe, I’m pretty certain that 2017 is going to kick ass.
I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions. I think they’re mostly just manifestations of regret, a reaction to the crappier parts of the last year. Plus, I usually fail at them. Then you make new resolutions the next year to erase the resolutions you didn’t achieve the previous year. It’s insane. So I don’t do it. However, I do believe in the value of hope and aspiration. So here are my New Year’s Reasonable Intentions.
I’m hoping to lose, and maintain the loss of, about 15 pounds. It’s almost bikini season you know.
I’m going try to write more, and with more purpose. I enjoy it, and I want to be really good at it. So practice, practice, practice.
I think I’ll ride my bike more often than I did last year. Bike riding for exercise makes Troy sleepy, bored, and irascible. But riding for tacos, friends and the occasional glass of beer makes Troy feel happy and purposeful.
I’d like to surprise my wife and sons with expressions of encouragement and affection more often. They’re my oxygen, they should know it every day.
I intend to give a hand when it’s needed. Sometimes, as I’ve driven past someone on the highway with a broke-down car I’ve thought “they’ve probably already called for help”. Or seen someone in a busy parking lot apparently looking for their car and thought, “maybe they’re waiting for a family member to pick them up”. I suspect that we all sometimes do that, but maybe that’s just a crappy excuse. I should ask if they need help.
I’m hoping to pick up a lunch tab for someone I’ve never met. Just a surprise. Maybe to show someone that people can be surprisingly good for no reason. Maybe to make myself feel good about my day. Either way…
I’m hoping to say, at least 6 times, “wow, this is so much better than I thought it’d be!” Because maybe this will be the year I see, taste or hear the Greatest Thing Ever.
I’m hoping, at least 6 times, to find myself somewhere I’d never been before. Because my perspective could probably use some expanding.
I’m hoping, at least 6 times, to ask a stranger for directions. Because duh, maybe I’ll get lost. Or maybe I’ll just want to know how to get somewhere I’ve never been before. And isn’t that the whole point?
I’d like to order something off a menu I can’t read. Because that could be really great or really, really bad. But always a good story.
I want to watch live music with my wife, or play more cards with her, or throw rocks at merchant shipping with her (certainly not throwing rocks at the US Navy). Because I’ve never not enjoyed spending time with her.
I want to be silly with my sons, and have people frown at our ridiculousness. Because I’ve never not enjoyed spending time with them. And I really like being ridiculous with them.
So have a great new year everyone. Enjoy yourselves, improve yourselves, and be hopeful that the next day will be wonderful. I sure hope I can do those things. So do something stupid, do something sensible. Do something new, do something nice. And by all means, do something surprising.
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