Goalful and charged

Last year is sooo behind me right now. All those outdated, unreached 2009 goals hovering in the air. I've forged ahead. I'm a new me. Yes, already. What are you, a skeptic? I know, already, that 2010 will be the year of painless toe touching and moving to somewhere that's else and more writing and running further and staying on budget for once. I just know. The feeling starts the minute I unwrap the plastic from a new calendar and continues until February 10. So you have to make the most of it, really, like that friend you only see once a year at someone else's wedding.

This year, my goals and me are reacquainting ourselves, thick and smile-filled and puffy with hope. We've established some airy, weightless idears that'll no doubt be painful come the push of fall. But, pay that no mind. Keep your hope handy and fuel it with cookies and those hugs your mom gave out when you saw her last, things like that are what new years and holidays are truly about. And shut up with the I thought you were going to do that last year kind of auntly commentary, even if we both are thinking it. Remember how you felt when that kid in second grade told you the truth about Santa Claus? Yeah, don't be that kid. But don't be the kid who believed until tenth grade either.

Goals for 2010

1. Move away from Garnett to . . . almost anywhere will do.
   
2. Find a second writing assignment
3. Run 425 miles
4. Take sewing lessons (it's not improving on its own...)
5. Volunteer at the food bank
6. Touch my toes
7. Visit New England, Canada or Alaska
8. Write a(nother) novel, only better this time
   

And as you're once again sleeping through the ball dropping excitement of the countdown, I will make a wish for you. Let's see, for you. . . . For you, I wish for a long year of hopeful days unfurling, graceful and slow, curled at the edges like happiness.