The list

I guess lots of folks are busy getting every little thing ready for the holidays and I’m sure, in the back of your minds, the Christmas gift list is slowly being replaced by the resolutions for the New Year list. Me, too. I try not to think about “A New Year, a New You,” but it’s on my mind. While I’m busy baking cookies or wrapping presents or addressing cards or making gifts and I find myself thinking a lot about my what my resolve for 2011 will be. Come on, we all do it. As we check one item off the Christmas list we replace it with a resolution. Sometimes the two lists are related like, “next year I resolve to use less butter and more bran in the shortbread” or “there’ll be fewer test cookies next year” or “more visiting and less shopping” and “more water and less wine.” Whatever we resolve, as the end of the year approaches we become much more critical of our lives and vow, one way or the other, to make improvements the moment the New Year rings in.

Last year, for the first time in a very long time, I made a serious list of resolutions. At least I thought it was a serious list. I really did think I was going to stop using my Italian for Dummies book for something other than a place to rest my afternoon Kit Kat bar and cup of coffee. The good news is I did ditch the chocolate bar and coffee break in the afternoon, but the book has only been opened once or twice. And, for that matter, the trip to Italy didn’t happen either; not that one of those resolutions was dependent upon the other. All in all, I don’t think I’m disappointed with the way the whole 2010 resolution thing worked out for me. Eventually, I got around to implementing several of my life improvement ideas. Getting fit was one of those resolutions that only became reality as the year-end approached and I took my sorry, jiggly behind to a gym. The Asics, the Pearl Isumis and the Sauconys are getting a heck of a workout. Seems it’s easier to get rid of the junk in my trunk than it is to get rid of the personal baggage. And I did clean the attic and a lot of what was hiding could have fallen into the “personal baggage” department. The actual number of cycling trips I took with LOML weren’t more numerous, but the distance covered more than tripled. And, I’ve got a better idea about where I’m going (on the bikes and in my life), with thanks to a silly creative guy who helped me with the design of my website. Having said that, I suppose if I’d written one of those business plans for myself, the website would be getting more of a workout, eh? I understand why the cobbler’s children were barefoot or the IT companies with the hand-cranked networks. I don’t make myself a priority. I may do more of that in 2011, make time for me or at least insist on being paid when I make time for other businesses and organizations.

So, this year, I’m picking up some of the old, unfulfilled resolutions and adding a couple of new ones. I resolve to spend less time reading about what “friends” are up to and more time with friends, in person. I miss my real life friends. LOL, OMG and ; ) just can’t replace a real in-person laugh over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine. Don’t get me wrong about keeping in touch “virtually,” I still find it hard to believe I was raised in a business atmosphere of carbon copies, Gestetners and Ditto machines, where “calculators” weighed more than the family dog and a person had to have a degree in engineering to operate it. I simply can’t believe we ever got anything done in the ’60s, 70s, 80s and early ’90s without email and the Internet. When I think of the days spent researching an issue compared with having a world of information at our fingertips, I wonder if I can have a refund on that time. And, speaking of time, I don’t want to waste my time. I do that. Waste time. Seriously, how many times a day does a gal have to check her email? And what do I think is going to happen if I don’t check it every 15 minutes? I could be running or cycling or photographing or actually finishing that damned book. No, I didn’t run a 5 or a 10 and this will be the twenty-sixth time I’ve resolved to do a 5 or a 10—and I can see the t-shirt logo the day I run those races. The 5 and 10 are still my sentimental favourites. Did I mention travel? I did a lot of that this year. I didn’t get to Tofino, Osooyos, Venice, Aix-en- Provence or NYC, but did hit Chicago, Montreal, Quebec City, Boston, a 170-km cycling trip from Brockville to Picton, and Algonquin Park during a blizzard. As for purpose- filled trips, I did the 50-kilometre ride for Heart and Stroke and the 60-kilometre Cribbage Colour Ride—with thanks to my sponsors and donors. All of these resolutions will, once again, be on my list.

You’ve got a list, right! I know you do. Put those chips away and grab a glass of water!