18 January 2007

resolve

i like new year's, it is one of my favorite holidays. i like that it isn't a hallmark holiday, there is no gift buying and no card sending. just a party, some introspection and -- if done right -- a great little trip out of town with friends.

this year i spent new year's weekend in martha's vineyard, a posh island off the coast of cape cod where i summered as a 3-year old. i returned for bike trips, once on the back of a motorcycle with my dad, and again for high school weekends to visit a friend's cousin -- titillating slices of frat life a few months before college started.

but winter was entirely different; there is something magical about the off season. as if you are privy to a secret shared by only the knowing few. it's like being in somebody's house while they're away on vacation; you get that delightful sense of sneaking around, stillness appreciated as an absense of the usual noise.

and i especially like to make new year's resolutions -- the kind that i know i will keep -- in the vein of "keep doing this great thing i'm already doing." that way there is no disappointment, no letting myself down. it's like writing something down on a to-do list that you've already done, then checking it off. self-serving? definitely. missing the point? probably.

here is a selection from jacki's resolutions, 2007:
  • start yoga again in february, continue for the rest of the year except for months when i'm not entirely in madrid
  • celebrate my 30th birthday in style. feel wonderful about being 30.
  • pick up guitar again. sit on my terrace playing guitar in summer.
  • read the novel i wrote in november. edit it, if it seems worthy.
today's question: what's your favorite resolution that you've already kept?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

We prefer to think of them as "goals" , not "resolutions". Bette and I, and this year, Leah for the first time, set goals for the year.

While I haven't accomplished any of this year's goals yet, one from last year that I'm proud of is answering the phone with my name every time it rings. (very difficult for a stutterer) Last year, I can count on one hand the number of times I did NOT answer with my name.

Jacki's dad