and, in the end...

This morning a 3/4 moon is thinly veiled by high, slow-moving clouds that make the sky something out of a Bulwer-Lytton novel, or at least out of "Young Frankenstein." But that's neither here nor there.

I'm not much for resolutions, so I'm not going to make any. For one thing, I've already got so many opportunities to fail to accomplish things that I don't feel a need to add to my load. For another, it seems somewhat artificial to me to set goals based on a somewhat arbitrary date. January 1 is the start of the year, it's true, but why? What makes a year a year?

Thinking about this I realized that for me the thing worth celebrating is that our days are getting longer once again. Yahoo! More daylight, warming temperatures.... I get why druids and other evil-non-Christian-unAmerican folk celebrate(d) the solstice. It's a celebration I can get into. What's not to like about lengthening days?

And one last issue with NY resolutions -- when I notice something I need to work on (and I do, often), I figure I may as well start working on it right then, when I notice it. So, I'm currently working on being more in the moment with the girls (with everyone, actually). It's so easy to get caught up in whatever I'm doing (washing dishes, trying to put my socks on) that I sometimes miss important moments like K telling me she watched an especially exciting episode of Saddle Club, or L telling me how she and K watched an especially exciting episode of Saddle Club.

Anyway, unlike resolutions, I have no problem looking backward. Probably to a fault. And looking back on this year, it looks pretty darn good, in spite of our needing to buy multiple new appliances (including a new furnace as of 2 days ago).

• L - This morning I woke up snuggled against L, likely just as I woke up on 1/1/09. But still, she managed to sleep all night in her crib for more nights than I have fingers to count, so this is good.
• K - K started Montessori pre-school and is getting a lot out of it. She can count past 20 and recognizes most of her letters now. Plus, she's learning about sharing and friends and projects.
  
• M - M started horticulture classes and is getting a lot out of them. She too can count and recognize letters and has always been good about sharing and friends and projects.
• me - I started paddling and am loving that. I also managed to keep my job during this... whatever it's technically called.
• We have a president who, while not quite the gutsy political risk-taker I might have hoped for, is at least far far better than anything we've had for the previous 8 years.
  Note: Obligatory end-of-year, degrees-of-separation comment -- I had the same 5th Grade teacher (Mrs. Hefty) as Barack Obama, just 2 years before he did, and we both received "Most Improved Student" awards while in her class. (My younger sister was actually in his class, though she missed a chunk of the year with a broken leg.) Which leaves me.... having peaked in 5th grade and him POTUS in 2009. My sister's leg healed fine, by the way. End of brush-with-accomplishment/fame.
  

So all in all, it's been a grand year for me. And I'll end with this, one of the nicest comments I received this year, this one from my currently visiting mother-in-law:

me (chasing L for some important reason such as to get her into pants in our colder-than-normal, furnace-broken house): Hey, come back here you little monkey!
MiL: You look younger than ever. These girls are keeping you young.
me: Really? I don't look like a sleep-starved maniac?
MiL: No, you really look good.

And that leads me to my motto for the coming year:

Younger, then, in 2010!

Happy Solstice.