Resolutions For the New Year

Happy New Year. Might as well assume that will be the case anyway, right? Fresh starts, bright outlooks...

My New Year began December 31st at the InstaCare with my 4 year old son. He learned the hard way that we weren't just being ornery parents when we told them a million times to not play with the weight set. He also learned that one should not put his hand on the weights after his little sister picks up the curl bar and walks backwards pulling 15 pounds up to a height of about two feet. Because--again, learning the hard way--she will think it is really fun to suddenly let go of said bar and watch the weights come slamming down. Directly on the hand that is innocently resting on their home. Dominic ended up breaking the ring finger on his right hand--and the pressure split his finger open causing the need for three stitches. His top finger joint is broken vertically down the middle, and the 2nd joint is broken horizontally near the top part of the bone...the broken piece jutting painfully out at greater than a 40 degree angle...looking somewhat like ice cream falling off a cone if you look at the x-ray in a demented, hunger-induced way. We thought he was going to need surgery to pin that bone in place, but the specialist we took him to yesterday decided that it might fix itself. So in one week we return to get the stitches removed, and the 2 weeks after that we return to get another x-ray to make sure it is healing correctly. I suppose there is still the possibility that he would need surgery, but for now we will keep our fingers crossed (no pun intended).

After a start like that, one must be very careful for what sort of resolutions you make for the new year. One that would make sense is to just hope that a broken finger is as bad as it gets. It would be nice to get all the crappy stuff of the year taken care of at the beginning and leave smooth sailing for the rest of 2008. It is also wise to make resolutions that you don't laugh inside as you are making them, knowing full well that you will break said resolution within 24 hours of making it.

For example, I would never in a million years say that my resolution would be to not eat chocolate. Like that would ever happen. I could say that I will never eat chocolate after midnight...on a Tuesday. That might work. Heavy on the 'might'.

I would LIKE to say that I will exercise more and watch what I eat. That is doable. I could accomplish that just by actually vacuuming my house every day and by keeping my eyes open when I polish off the carton of Ben and Jerry's. (I'm not opposed to sneaky resolutions....)

I would never say something like "I will lose ten pounds". That is too concrete. Even if I shaved my head that much weight wouldn't come off, and since my only real options for losing weight is cutting my hair or suddenly growing taller, I think I will stay away from that area of resolution. I want to succeed this year in any resolutions I might make.

Now, a resolution can't be silly. For instance, I shouldn't say I will GAIN ten pounds--because although that is more likely than losing ten pounds...and infinitely more fun, at least in the effort...I probably shouldn't resolve to do things that would be bad for me. Or that would make people quickly move their children and small pets from my path in fear that I might roll over them as I waddle their general direction if they happen to get between me and the bakery section of the grocery store.

No, resolutions should be well thought out...solid goals that will be worth trying to achieve, and not completely impossible. I'm all for goals that will help me become a better person and all that, and my kids would probably appreciate it if I threw one in that said something to the effect of being a kinder, more generous and less embarrassing mother (but where is the fun in that?).

So in reality my resolutions this year will be to 1. Dance more in the kitchen while cooking (thus reaching the goal of more exercise AND the added bonus of embarrassing my kids MORE--can't let them run everything around here, right?); 2. Try to remember to add a vegetable item to dinner AT LEAST once per week (that should take care of eating more healthy, AND make my mother-in-law--the nutritionist--not think that I'm killing her grandchildren and depriving them of nutrients); and 3. Just for good measure and something to kick me a bit (a lot) out of my comfort zone, will be to show more appreciation to my friends and family. Now that I wrote that last one down in a fairly public location, I can't get out of it too easily. So if you are a friend or a family member and you see me suddenly stammer and blush and give you a half-hearted looking pat on the back...take it as a huge demonstration of my deep love and gratitude. I'll mean every bit of it and will know that you deserve so much more.

(And if you catch me dancing in my kitchen and singing loudly to my Mp3 player in a way that finds my children hiding and my husband turning the volume up on the tv, feel free to just ignore me--or better yet, join in. And I will be sure to put more feeling in the back pat you will most definitely receive).