Auld Lang Syne

Everywhere I look, I'm seeing Top 10 lists for 2008. I started compiling my own retrospective, but by the time I reached #5, I was nodding off. And if I was bored, I can only imagine what the two of you who read my blog would feel. So I'm going to refrain from describing how my eldest daughter broke her arm or the happiness I felt when my 8-year-old declared that she loves school or my gratefulness for a very cool husband who took me to Hawaii for our anniversary.

I remember watching an awards show years ago, when a Holocaust survivor featured in a winning documentary stepped up to the mic to give her acceptance speech. She looked into the camera and spoke to all the people sitting around their TV, who might be regretting the uneventfulness of their lives. That little old woman, who had lost everyone she had ever loved during her youth, reminded viewers in a trembling voice that our seemingly boring lives with our family should never be taken for granted.

So I don't just admit that 2008 was a boring year, I proclaim it! I sat around the dinner table evening after evening with my husband and four children! Day after day I climbed behind the wheel of my minivan to drive a precious daughter to school or to a piano lesson or to the soccer field! Minute after uneventful minute passed by as I lollygagged down the road with my loved ones, who I thank God are healthy and happy and traveling this journey with me! And you know what? I pray that 2009 is just as "boring" a year as 2008. And may your new year be boring, too!

Dinner last night: pasta alfredo, green salad

A Walk in the Woods

After the hustle and bustle of Christmas preparations, the excitement and giddiness of my girls opening gifts, and the visiting and sharing of meals with family and friends, I needed some quiet time. So on a walk I went.

The day wasn't particularly beautiful—the sun was hidden and the sky was mostly overcast—but I really enjoyed the peacefulness and stillness of the winter day. As I tromped through the woods, I snapped some pictures and contemplated the year past and the year to come. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost came to mind.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was snowy* and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In snow* no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for any other day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

*due to weather conditions, I took the liberty of substituting "snowy" for "grassy"

and "snow" for "leaves"

Dinner last night: ham and bean soup, dinner rolls

Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men

God bless you and your family

today and throughout the new year.

Dinner last night: ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans, dinner rolls, pistachio salad, cheesecake with cherries