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COLUMN: Pondering new year and the value of New Year’s resolutions

Heading into January and considering the different resolutions for the year
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Here we are heading pell mell into January!

With the New Year still in its infancy, its time to pack up our frustrations fears and worries along with our Christmas decorations, and move on.

As of the first week of January, I find I’m still pondering my new year’s resolutions which is pretty much par for the course for me.

I’m usually a little behind in such things.

This morning on my way to work, I pondered my resolutions a little more. And somewhere between Sylvan Lake and Rimbey I decided I needed to make resolutions, which included stepping out of my comfort zone, trying new things, being brave, and somehow making the world a better place.

As a result of so many deep thoughts I was almost late for my 9 a.m. interview and had not come any closer to being brave, or making the world a better place.

If the truth were known, I am fairly confident that I will fail at achieving any of my lofty resolutions this year. However, I have to say that during the first two weeks of 2018 all I had to do was show up and good things happened.

I found this to be very comforting.

After all, it is nice to know that even if the checks and balances in life don’t always work out, the universe has a way of sneaking in a few good things, even for the most undeserving of us.

For me, several of those moments filled with good things were tossed together with all the abundance the universe has to offer and dished out by some wonderful people who happen to call me grandma.

The teenagers came first. I leaned over the kitchen counter at their home and chatted with them while they did the dishes. The adults were in the dining room and I had wondered off to have an impromptu visit with the kids.

I’m so glad I did. Being with the teenagers reminded me of all that is good and right with the world.

And then there was the ski doo ride. “Grandma, are you cold?” my granddaughter asked anxiously, as I settled in behind her on her new Christmas present. Her dark brown braids, peeping out from under her black and pink helmet, were already stiff with cold.

I was freezing and the icy fingers of cold air had already slipped in through the loose knitted stitches of the grey scarf I had wrapped around my neck and were stroking my cheeks relentlessly

“Toasty warm,” I lied.

Finally, there was a bit of time carved out of my busy schedule to spend with three boys and a dog named Molly.

And, finally an impromptu evening with friends. The night turned into a casual affair laced rather heavily with music, ranging from classical to rock ‘n roll to sing-a-long songs that some of us knew some of the words to.

It was my kind of evening.

And even as I sat and listened to the wonderfully talented musicians whom I am fortunate enough to know, I think about the year ahead.

And I think about how I need to do my part to make the world a better place, which brings me full circle to my new year’s resolutions.

Then I quit thinking and just let the music seep into my very soul.

Maybe tomorrow I will try to do something to make the world a better place.

But for tonight, I will simply enjoy the moment, and the music and be grateful.

It’s quite easy, actually.

Very easy!