Sunday, January 01, 2006

One Is Silver And The Other Gold 

A day-and-night at the in-laws: errands, supper, rural R&R; ice everywhere, the smell of stallcows permeating the crip air. Next morning, a trip across the river to Keene for a stop-in with Darcie's grandmother in her new living facility digs, a movie with Darcie while the in-laws watched the kids.

New Years Eve ever farther North, with Darcie's brother, his long-time live-in, and the annual oldfriend crowd for the fourth consecutive. Too much to drink too late into the evening; awoke at 7 -- in a shared bed, to the baby, in a borrowed room -- for sitzbath and our usual gig: making breakfast for the hungover hordes, real maple syrup and heavy on the butter and pork.

Stopped by invitation at the old school on the way home, my first time back since they threw us out into the temporary unknown. Hugs and recent backstories with old friends, first at a hanukkah party where Willow played rowdy with a band of half-familiar faces, then spur-of-the-moment across the street, where Willow and once-wee Zinnia played suspiciously well out of sight while close couple Peter and Michelle helped us coo over the baby.

Pensive on the way home. We have no new friends (yet). Willow socializes seldom, not enough to make attachments like the ones she revisited with ease this evening. We do not wander as we should; we do not travel far enough when we do.

It's a wonderful thing to find my fears so high up Maszlow's pyramid. But for all that life has regained its center in the past year, a wandering life is never completed. There is always room for improvement.

Resolved, then: In 2006...

• I will put family first -- and more often.



• I will work to ensure that my children have the gift -- and the benefits -- of socialization, peer play and friendship.



• I will not be afraid to look backwards, even in the dark, as long as I have the family I love.



• I will make new friends, and keep the old.

All that, and 52 books. Fifty three if I actually manage to write one. Fasten your seatbelts, folks. It promises to be a hell of a year.

posted by boyhowdy | 9:52 PM |

---

Comments:

I have a similar resolution about getting my three year old to socialize with peer's more. :) It was something I noticed in the late fall that I was really lacking in. I was relieved to see I wasn't the only one.

# posted by  Anonymous : 8:59 AM, January 02, 2006

 

Post a Comment