Eating well, living well, loving well, staying healthy, getting fit – I’m seeing those themes a lot again lately. Ah, the new year is upon us. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking such goals. Frankly, it’s impressive to see so many people looking deeply, evaluating what’s working and what’s not, committing to a better future, whatever way that may be. I’m getting a bit jaded is all. Easy come, easy go seems to be how the merry-go-round of resolutions has gone since they were first begun. When did people start making New Year’s resolutions, I wonder? Maybe I make resolutions and don’t even realize it because I don’t start them on the first of January. Maybe my own goals and aspirations are just a poor man’s substitute for not really pulling out all the stops and committing to something in writing. Then again, maybe not. Forward movement, that’s really what I’m after.

Just to join in, here’s a few things I missed this year that I’d like to get back into my life for 2009.

• First, I miss vegetables growing in my front yard. Perhaps my neighbors didn’t miss them, but I sure did. We joined a local CSA last summer and I was unsure how many veggies we’d be getting at any one point in time, so I filled the veggie bed with flowers instead. But I miss veggies in my front yard I found, so I’ll be placing tiny little seeds in hearty soil come spring and hoping for a bumper crop – even with all the CSA veggies.
• Second, I miss seeing the Lake on a regular basis. I missed listening to crashing waves, seagulls and splashing kids. So we’ll pack up the car, drive to the beach, slather on the sunscreen and know that we missed some essential spot which will burn like mad. We’ll come home sandy, tired and happy. Rinse and repeat.
• Third, I miss sleeping in a tent, walking away from everyone in the middle of the night to see a map of stars laid out across the sky, and cooking over a campfire. We’ll grab Padawan Learner’s buddy, Biggs, and head off to save the galaxy from a campground far, far away.

And just because they make me happy, here’s some things that I’m really glad about from 2008.

• We – meaning the people we paid to do the actual work - insulated the roof and the walls, put in new energy efficient (and, if I might say so, lovely) windows, completely resided the exterior and had all the heating ducts scrubbed clean - without going even a penny into debt. Years of savings were put to their intended use. The house is so much more pleasant to live in that I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
• I got to know my niece, Princess Leia, a lot better. From the obnoxious little girl that she was as a child and through the bewildering teen years, I have always loved her but I have grown to really like her as well this year. Life hasn’t been easy these past 15 months for anyone in the extended family, but it has brought out a strength of character in this beautiful young woman (seriously, she’s gorgeous!) that is remarkable. As an added bonus, things seem to be thawing a bit between her mom and my family, for which I am particularly thankful.
•  Padawan Learner, Dad Windu and I finished the year out in good health and DW still has a fair-paying job that he enjoys (most of the time). Food, clothing, shelter. Check, check, check.

A few things in 2008 did surprise me, like the fact that my overall cholesterol count went up from a very braggable, thank.you.very.much 140 to a still respectable 170, but the ratio of good to bad deteriorated a fair bit. So I’ve gone back to walking daily and eating oatmeal for breakfast, despite the fact that I need to put brown sugar in it to make it palatable (which is pretty fast-acting and decidedly not good for keeping my blood sugar levels on an even keel), or I should say I needed  to do that. Although I vocally poo-poo’d how my friend M-T’s Mom (here-forth to be known as Yoda, for her endless wisdom) eats her oatmeal plain – double yuck – or with dried cherries in it, I am now a devotee of 1/3 cup of dried cherries in my big bowl of oatmeal every morning. Leave it to Yoda to teach me about eating something as elemental as oatmeal.