A New Year

Happy New Year!

For most of my life, in my perception, the new year starts in September when a new school year starts. I have either been going to school or teaching school, at home or in a classroom, or have sent husband and children off to college/grad school my whole life. Consequently, I am often caught off guard with the concept of reflecting on the old year on 31 December and making resolutions for the new year on January 1st.

But in the spirit of it all, I shall give reflection of 2007 a try and then come up with a 'hopes and goals' list for 2008, a phrase I am shamelessly stealing from another blog.

The word that comes to my mind when I reflect on 2007 here at Willow's Cottage is CHANGE. The Professor and I changed so many parts of our lives, as did our children. Every one of us moved in 2007. Again. We changed jobs. We exchanged the noise, lights, smog, violence of inner city Los Angeles for the quiet, safe, clean, friendly atmosphere of Camarillo.

We changed churches, jobs, grocery stores, doctors, dentists, walking and biking routes, yarn shops, favorite local coffee shops, beaches. Not being much of a shopper, I am still learning where stores are, what streets are named what. I can get to church, to Palermo Coffee, to school and to Trader Joe's. When we moved, we didn't really change friends. We did change our interactions with them. Some friends we saw only occasionally are now our coffee buddies, and vice versa. It takes some adjustment.

Did I do everything on my 2007 goals list? Certainly not. I didn't lose weight, I didn't organize the photos. But I did submit the work for the Knitting Guild certification.

So that brings me to 2008.
My hopes and goals:
1. Lose a bit of weight. Always have to put that in here, it's the American way.
2. Exercise more. Walk more consistently. Get the bike serviced and ready to ride again.
3. Resubmit the Knitting Guild work for review. All that is left for me to do is rewrite the aran sweater pattern and double check one of the swatches.
4. Use my yarn stash instead of buying new yarn. Please don't tell my lys owner.
5. Read or reread the books that are on our bookshelves.
6. Be more intentional about my spiritual life. Pray. Memorize Scripture. I want to learn about the Church Year, the daily and weekly prayers and readings.
7. And organize the photos. Declutter. Simplify. Live Green. Hope for world peace.

I don't expect 2008 to be an easy year with Chaplain Dan in the Middle East. But it can be a hopeful, trusting-in-God year. We will become grandparents; we will accomplish one of our life goals, seeing all of our children graduate from college, when MamaMia receives her degree in Anthropology from San Diego State University in May. We will travel internationally again, with a trip to England. We will put down roots in our new home, new community.

Happy New Year!