Things To Do, 2007

A few more hours and this year too will have ended. Just back from South Carolina after a long 12 hours in the car, we are enjoying a lazy morning. In years past, my husband and I used the 31st of December to make a list of things we would like to accomplish in the new year. Along with such lame goals as losing weight and saving money, there were bigger goals such as starting a family and attacking some major work on our Brooklyn brownstone. Some of those goals were accomplished, some never were. We also projected into the future and wrote down how we wanted our life to be 5 and 10 years into the future. Looking at the lists now, I have to admire our optimism. But also our persistance. Remarkably, we accompished some of our loftier goals. Some others, which could have easily been attained, never got done. In 1995 for example, one of the goals was to redo the hallway. To this day, we have not finished the work, the paint can and brush standing in a corner as permanent design elements. We never moved to the country as planned in 1990, but did take a majority of the exotic trips we listed.
Our life is different as I imagined 10 years ago. But it is a good life. It is a very interesting life. As a young couple, we were naive enough to think that we could plan out the future. Wiser, I now know that life just happens,with all the joys and sorrows that we cannot imagine today. But basically, my life is what I wanted it to be like so many years ago even if the details are different.
So tonight, while we sip our champagne waiting for 2007, we will make our list once more and encourage the kids to write one too. Because it is nice to plan and to have goals and what better time to do it than on the eve of a new year.
So Happy New Year! May it be a good one. And may we finally finish the hallway.