Happy New Year: 2008 Edition

Welcome to 2008. Can you even believe that we're here already? Where does it go? It seems like I was just celebrating Independence Day and reveling in the Terra-cotta warmth of August, and here we are again already, past the 'holiday 26.2' and the dial has flipped over.

I'm grateful for the beginning of this year. Why? Well, it is quite selfish, really. I have finally recovered from a frightful bought of Viral Gastroenteritis, or for those of us without a score of years spent at med school: Stomach Flu. Most cases run their course within 1-3 days. Not me. Nope. I'm special: I managed to have a whopping 10 day bout of the joyful intestinal upset that keeps on a-giving.

Groan.

Yes, dear friends, I have effectively spent my entire holiday suffering from the stomach flu, in bed, or when not in bed vomiting from either end of my g.i. tract. A lovely image, I know. I'll spare the rest of the details. Let's just say it wasn't pretty.

I regret being sick mostly because of the lost time with my kidlets. Normally winter vacation and the holidays are a time when I enjoy spending extra time with my kiddies, going to OMSI to enjoy the latest (and most grotesque, at times) science exhibits and cool hands-on activities. Or, often we'll head to the Zoo to enjoy a brisk afternoon of learning about exotic and some-not-so-exotic species. We also enjoy just puttering around the house, baking cookies, and relaxing the rules on junk-food, television, and just plain old goofing off. Not so this past season.

Sigh.

B.J. reminds me that there's always Spring-break. It is so rare to be able to enjoy my babies during the part of the day where they're fresh and new and ready to go (mornings), so I really indulge during my vacations. Tomorrow I head back to the daily grind, and with it those beautiful, happy mornings fly with my kidlets back to daycare. Such is the life of a working mother.

On to 2008.

What do I want to accomplish this year? Lots of things. Here's where I'd normally begin to lament all the things I managed to NOT accomplish in '07, and write down a lofty list of 'resolutions' to tackle for this year. Not gonna happen.

I'm not going to look back. At least not today. I often spend so much of my mental 'free time' ruminating about the past and living among the specters and ghosts of my past failures, defeats, and all of the 'should haves' that are a part of my existence. Today (even if only for a day) I'm going to look forward: I'm looking to my future and all the things I can still do. I'm thinking today of how I want to make myself a better person. I'm starting very small. I'm even a little embarrassed to say what my first goal I'm working on is, but here it goes: I will yell less.

There. I said it. It already feels a teeny-tiny little bit better. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I yell a lot. I didn't grow up in a household that yelled. My mother and dad did not yell and scream (they did have discussions, but not drag-down screaming matches or anything close to it). My mother rarely yelled at me; when mom did yell at me I really had it coming, and I was, in fact, deliberately doing something naughty and I knew it. Not so in my household. I find that I start out small: I talk louder to be heard. Then, the ante gets upped and I've escalated a bit more and I'm talking REALLY REALLY LOUDLY...eventually I'm yelling, usually something to the effect of "Quit hitting your brother! Be nice or be quiet! STOP IT! YOU'RE DRIVING ME BANANAS!!". Sad to say it, but it gets worse than that. But, you get the gist. My first goal to make everyone's day a little nicer (including my own) is to yell less. I did not grow up with a screaming dragon of a mother, why should my children?

Yell less. Sounds simple, right? We'll see just how 'simple' it is.

Cheers to you and the new year. What are you improving?