New Year's Day

And a happy New Year's Day to you! 

Yes, I slept through it all. The fireworks (were there any in our rural community?), the cheering, the TV rendition of time moving forward from one year to the next. A few minutes after midnight, my phone showed me kids, ages nearly 9, 5 and 2 jumping up and down exuberantly on a parental bed. Their joy was palpable! So I began my new year with a smile, then a burrow under the quilt and a return to sleep.

I have before me three days of downtime, which is good, because I need to shape up after the annoying virus knocked some of the oomph out of me in the last days of December. (Oh that cough! It's got to go!)

In this next decade of my life, I'm starting the new year with no resolutions. At 70, you're allowed to skip over that tradition. It's not that you can't improve, but resolving to do so only once a year seems like the wrong approach for those of us who haven't a ton of January firsts before them. An effort to improve is now part of the everyday. It feels better that way in any case. Incremental efforts. Small steps. Greater likelihood of success!

Nonetheless, I did like reading today about an energy challenge you might set for yourself today, this year, whenever. The author suggests that you concentrate on five science-backed ingredients for boosting your energy: rest, exercise, socializing, eating, and finding enjoyment in your daily tasks (the NYTimes). And I did take the fitness test suggested by the WashPost, also in today's paper, for those who haven't a clue as to their level of fitness. That newspaper wont let you link to their articles, but in case you're curious, you can test yourself simply by counting the number of unassisted standups from a chair you can do in 30 seconds (senior target: a dozen), by the number of seconds you can stand on one foot (senior target 90), and by the number of seconds you can hang (senior target 30 secs). And then, when you've patted yourself on the back for being so magnificently fit, the writers tell you that you could always stand to improve, and here are a few suggestions on how to do it!

Always the preaching out there, waiting to hit you in the gut.

Continuing in this vein of health and well being, I then read the article (back to the NYTimes for this one) titled: A Hopeful Reminder: You're Going to Die. The upshot there is that if we faced our own mortality squarely and on a regular basis, we'd lead better, fuller lives, understanding on a daily basis what counts, and taking heroic plunges, rather than safe steps, as we move from one year to the next. 

Yes, "heroes" does sound much better than merely mindless consumers of creature comforts in life, nonetheless, I had some issues with the general premise and how it plays out in life. Facing the terror of your own mortality is an entirely different ballgame at age 10, 30, 50 or 70. And if you have kids, it gets even more complicated, as your worries are for yourself and for them. Sure, in the cosmic scheme of things, age should not make a difference, as we are all merely specs on a "rock hurtling through the unfeeling infinity of dark matter,"  but tell that to the parent whose entire soul is enmeshed with the love she feels for her young ones. Death is more than just a random swat -- me today, you tomorrow. It's a bulldozing of all the heroic acts you do for your young ones. Thank you, but I'd prefer to postpone that until I'm past, well, maybe 70! Before that, terror is not your friend, nor your vehicle to a more heroic life. [And a note here: I write about kids being your foci, but of course, it could be something or someone else, beloved, adored, whose happiness is so totally dependent on you surviving the year.] 

These are my morning thoughts. The day is rather cold, rather gray, the promised sunshine never came through the thick cloud cover. The animals were fed...

And yes, Ed and I sat down to breakfast together. Panettone cake! I love it, Ed -- less so, but he's not a big breakfast eater so at least once a year, I choose this delicious Italian treat for our morning table and what better day for it than... right now!

Afternoon? Well, a long email from Poland makes me smile, and a longer Zoom call with my Warsaw BFF is beyond rich. True, my voice is still not strong and Ed has noted that my cough is not exactly helpful as he tries to concentrate on the details of his machine design project, but he says this lightly and with compassion! My kind of guy! The essence of this day is just beautiful. What more could you ask for!