We ended the year on a low-key note -- so low-key that I spent most of the evening holed up in my office working on revisions. "You've been doing this a long time," observed a kid wandering in to see what was happening. "You know what I'm like when I get going," I mumbled, adjusting my ear plugs. Kevin brought me two beers and a cup of chai tea to offer sustenance. I didn't stop till I was through the whole book. I think, I think, it's ready to send back to my editor. I hope that isn't the chai tea talking.
As the evening progressed, I could hear my family playing Settlers of Catan nearby. Later, they retired to the basement to watch old family movies, not to be confused with episodes of Modern Family, which were interspersed when a certain almost-teenaged family member couldn't stand to watch another video of himself "making sand" by banging two rocks together or whisking down a slide into a wading pool filled, rather oddly one would think, with mud rather than water.
It was 10PM when I removed the ear plugs, shut down the book, and joined my cozy family.
It was a long and peculiar year. It ended as it should have, I think.
With mere seconds to spare before midnight, we raced upstairs. (We chose CBC radio's countdown, which was swell right up until it got to 3-2-1 and there was a pause of blank air followed by the dum-da-dum musical chime indicating the news was coming up, whereupon a newscaster launched directly into all the bad headlines of the moment without sparing even one "Happy New Year" to help the listening public transition between subjects.) We hugged and toasted with champagne and ginger ale. The energy dwindled rapidly and people drifted toward activities that made them happy. I, for example, took photos.
CJ played Pokemon.
Albus sighed that the evening could have been better, had it contained the playing of more video games.
AppleApple snuggled on the couch with her imaginary cat, Stella, not to be mistaken for her imaginary snake, Norbert.
And here is the Fooey sequence, which covers a time-span of about ten minutes.
:::
This post, to launch a new year, seems to call out for reflection and resolve, and I'm not really feeling it today. Here is what my writer friend Sheree Fitch posted on FB yesterday: "This year, I unresolve. I cannot solve nor be resolute. So I will just keep trying to unresolve: to let go in all ways. Yes, it hurts and is soul-scary. A little fear is not a bad thing."
(I agree: a little fear is not a bad thing. Fear is what I burn when I'm writing. Anxiety is the terrible underbelly of a project underway and ... ok, I'm only seeing it now ... unresolved.)
Life is unresolved. It is underway. It is unpredictable.
Watching those home movies last night I said to Kevin, "My God, we were living in chaos. How did we stand it?" After I'd repeated this observation several times, he finally replied, "I think we're actually still living in chaos." And I had to look around and admit this is true.
So I guess that's how we stand it. We're in it. It's happening. It doesn't look like chaos because it makes so much sense. It doesn't feel like fear because it fires invention and change.
I would like to make resolutions this year, but I can't think of any not already underway. Run more, read more, write lots. Publish. Be ambitious, be humble, be professional, be kind. Take care of my family, my spirit, my body. Be a good friend. Become a better teacher.
I can't seem to think big, today. I'm thinking daily. I'm thinking practical. I'm thinking waste not, want not. How do I want to spend my time? That's an important consideration, of course, but it's not just about getting to do what I want. It's also about not wasting time wishing I were doing something else, when engaged in activities not at the top of my priority list. (Driving the kids; cooking supper in a terrible rush; standing on the sidelines at soccer practice.)
Use everything.
Okay, there's a resolution for the unresolved. I'll take it.
But first I have to ask: Use it for what?
For light. For entertainment. For love. For health. For connection. For being silly. For questioning. For reminiscing. For stories yet to be written. For wondering. For curiosity. For building strength. For discovering resilience. For practice. For learning. For rest. For comfort. For creativity. For silence, for stillness, for emptying out.
This year I will finish some projects and start others. I will forget more things than I remember. I will wax and wane, tired and energetic, up and down, lost and found, certain and uncertain. I begin by rearranging my bookshelves, sending the kids to grandma's, and forgetting to eat lunch, again, because I'm writing. (This.)Labels: blogging, holidays, kids, New Year's, writing