It’s New Year’s Eve.  I am surrounded by family.  I am alive.  I am healthy (relatively).  I am content.  The events of this past week have brought into sharp focus all of the joy that is in my life.  I am a lucky person.

In no particular order, goals for 2011:

1.  Holden has an ear infection.  He has an appointment to see his ENT on January 4th.  My goal is to get tubes in his ears again, so we don’t go through what we went through last winter.

2.  I have been invited to give a presentation as part of my application for Program Director at my job.  I will give the talk, and I will get the job.  Anything that happens after that is anyone’s guess.

3.  I will learn how to knit.  I want to take a class at the local yarn shop.  I’ve wanted to do this for quite some time.  Now is the time to do it.

4.  I have been pretty good with exercising.  Not great, but certainly better than I had been.  I keep getting sick, and that keeps derailing my efforts.  I have a cold right now, so I haven’t gone running since Monday.  I hope that this weekend I’ll be back on it, and I can get back into a routine of exercise 4 times each week.

5.  I want to take a yoga class with H.  I don’t know how in the world I will fit this in.

6.  I want to give H swimming lessons next summer.

7.  I would like to have a cleaner house.  I am not above hiring a housecleaner to help me with this.

8.  I WILL maintain better contact with my close friends and family, and tell them how much I care.  I missed the boat with Kaye, and now it’s too late for that, but I won’t let that happen with the other people in my life who I love so dearly.  Relatedly, I won’t sweat the small stuff.  Life is indeed, too short.

9.  We will replace all of the windows in our house.

10.  I will finish the paint job I started in August, and I will paint two more rooms in our house.  It’s taking me FOREVER to get any of these little projects done.

11.  Rob and I will plan a long weekend getaway for our 10th wedding anniversary this summer.

Think I can pull it off?

Edited to Add:  Other things I would like to add to this rather lengthy list:

12.  Go on a rock climbing date with Rob.

13.  Learn to cross country ski.

14.  Get regular massages.

15.  Drink more water.

Fin!

We got the shocking and terrible news yesterday that a friend with whom Rob has worked for 6 years, was killed by a drunk driver.  Her name was Kaye, and I cannot overemphasize the extent to which she was adored by those around her.  She was warm, giving, selfless, fun, enthusiastic…you name it.  My immediate thought when R shared the news with me, was that I never told her enough how much she meant to us.  She sent us flowers when H was born, and gave H some of his first books.  She would rent out a hotel room and hold an Oscar party every year, and give out prizes to those dressed in the best costumes.  She would bring us back presents from her trips to CA (where she is from), and she was the first person with whom I ever had a discussion about bowerbirds.

The person who killed her was going over 50mph on the streets of Burlington, VT (if you’ve been here, you know how dangerous that is), and the police were in hot pursuit.  The driver blasted through 8 red lights and 2 stop signs before hitting Kaye’s car.  She was killed instantly.  The drunk driver, of course, had only minor injuries.  Prior to this, he had 4 DUIs from 3 states.

I can’t stop thinking about Kaye.  The last time I talked to her was sometime in October or November.  I was leaving R’s office (I don’t remember why), and we had a brief conversation as we both left the building.  I wish I had invited her to dinner, or had her over to our house.  I wish I had gotten to know her better, spent more time with her.  Because now we can’t.  And that sucks beyond anything I can think of right now.

So many people miss you Kaye.  Rest in peace…

A nice piece about Kaye can be found here.

December 7 – Community.

Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011?

I joined a wonderful faculty/staff community at the college where I work.  I am making friends there, and I feel satisfied and fulfilled by those relationships.  I don’t want to have any more/new community experiences in 2011—I already feel overcommitted and overwhelmed by the number of people I should keep in touch with, and I don’t do nearly a good enough job keeping in contact with my close friends.  I really have all of the connections any person could ever want or need.

December 6 – Make.

What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?

Last thing I made was a pillow for H a couple of weeks ago.  I took out the sewing machine, some leftover fabric, and an assortment of spare buttons.  I finished it, but it looks like crap.  It’s currently collecting dust bunnies on top of one of the shelves in our home office.  I’d like to learn how to knit, if I had time.  I need to take a class, because I’ve found I can’t learn how to do these things from books.

December 5 – Let Go.

What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why?

I let go of the silly idea (delusion) that I have control over my life.  I am more OK this year with the fact that I can’t have a plan for my life…and that things that I have planned for myself might not work out, and be replaced instead, with something equally (or more) awesome than what I had intended originally.