I Hereby Resolve . . . .

 Yesterday, I started writing a blog post about New Year’s resolutions 🎊🎊 because it’s the turn of the year, and I hadn’t written a blog post for quite a while. Unfortunately, the writing stalled after two paragraphs of drivel, and by then I had the excuse to do something fun like go to the dump where I had to wait in line because it was the day after Christmas, and people were throwing away all the old stuff that got replaced by with new better stuff brought by Santa. 

Waiting in line is part of the holidays and some of us don’t do that well. I see people waiting in line at the post office as if they had come at noon just so they can visit with all the other people waiting to pick up or mail packages. 💬💬💬 That’s not me; I don’t like queuing up and am lousy at small talk. Waiting in line at the dump isn’t as bad because we’re all sitting in our cars with the windows rolled up against the damn wind, so no chitchat is possible or expected just a head nod at the driver pulling out of the offloading zone when it's my turn is enough.  Anyway, I was watching the ravens squabbling over dump treasures when I realized that the reason I couldn’t write thoughtfully about New Year’s resolutions was that I had never really made one, and I don’t set much store my them. At the same time, I don’t hate the idea enough to write a rant about resolutions and how they are a big silly waste of time. ☃☃

I know it’s traditional for some people to make promises of self-improvement on the first of January, and the Christmas wrapping wasn’t even off the living room floor before folks were talking about New Year’s resolutions, “I will stop drinking”, “I will go to the gym three times a week”, or “I will volunteer every month at the animal shelter”. These promises are well intended but most of them won’t last to Groundhog Day — a great holiday because it requires no gifts, costumes, cards, or overeating😎😎. Most people don’t stick to their commitments, and if they do it’s because they picked something easy that they wanted to do anyway like swear off eggplant, or quit eating canned spinach. Face it, most of our New Year’s resolutions are low-hanging fruit that make easy pickin’s, and we still generally fail to follow through, letting the fruit rot on the ground. The whole resolution thing is just our way of admitting that we are selfish sloths, but we can change. Hah! A society that needs the GOLDEN RULE to remind them to be nice to each other is pretty insincere about being better any time of year. 

I guess I did write a little bit about resolutions, but that was too short for a blog post, and I need to be more in the swing of this social media thing to promote my books – or so they tell me. As I consider my social media presence, I think I should be a content creator, and start a podcast. Madelyn and I talked about doing a podcast about our small town. The format would be us driving through town discussing and critiquing everything from Christmas lights and Halloween lawn art to the driving habits of people on the street. Imagine the lively banter about so-and-so who just ran that stop sign and old what’s-his-name who pushes his snow out in the street when he plows his driveway. Yes, winter podcasts might be a bit slow, but summer would bring a whole raft of subject matter to town, tourists, Campers, and snowbirds. They’d all be victims of our sharp wit and lively repartee. No town is too small to have people to make fun of or criticize.

Don’t worry, as tempting as it is, I doubt we’d ever follow through. For one thing, Madelyn has told me many times that I am not as funny as I think I am, and in fact, I’m being quite a grump of late. This suggests that some of my humor I might be mean-spirited. Humm. Maybe I should make a New Year’s resolution🎉🎉🎉 to be nicer, to try and see others as good, well-intended people. Maybe I should do unto others as I would have them do unto me. It’s worth a try. 😇😇😇 Care to join me? Get in line!👯👭👬👫