Welcoming the New Year

I am not a big proponent of new year's resolutions. It surprises me every year, since I like very few things more than making a nice, tidy list. Perhaps it's stubbornness... why should I make a resolution list just because other people are? It could be that I avoid introspection whenever possible. Maybe it's fear of failure.

Most likely it's just that I don't want to, so I don't.

I am, however, looking forward to this new year in a way I rarely do. 2010 was a good year... the best I've had to date. But it was a hard year. We celebrated our first anniversary. We did not have a honeymoon period like so many seem to have. We struggled. Hard. Things have been easing up lately and I hope that continues into this year. Maybe our two hard heads are learning to avoid smashing into each other as hard.

We've made strides this year on leading a more simple life. I want to surround myself with things that I love. That are beautiful. I want to rid myself of everything else. We have so much stuff. Too much stuff. It's too much clutter, takes too much space, too much money, too much time. This year I plan to weed through as much as possible with a ruthless purpose.

We are beginning to re-learn to garden and this year we have big plans to expand and improve upon our fledgling front-yard garden. Perhaps I'll finally make time to add additional landscaping to help it blend in, rather than stick out.

The end of 2010 saw me completely and utterly burned out, in a way I can hardly remember ever being before. That cannot happen again. I don't know how to keep more balanced, but I hope to learn. I want time to read a book, or take a long walk, or cook a complicated meal with the Husband. I NEED that time.

This year looks to be a continuation of that last, and the one before. A year in which to grow. To become more wise, more patient, more kind. To continue building our family and our life. And that's all the resolution I need.