Resolutions

by Kami Cornwall

In High School my New Years tradition was to pick out a really stupid "B" movie, watch it in the basement of Ylana's house along with the others in our "skater" clique, eat unhealthy amounts of junk food, and then at midnight - gather on the edge of the Columbia River and toast to the new year with sparkling apple cider in wine glasses. We would make resolutions - usually something completely ridiculous like..."I resolve to vanquish the world of all rabid lobsters from Mars," and then watch the fireworks others in the city had lit.

Here I am twenty years later with children of my own and we spent New Year's Eve playing video games, fighting the driving need to sleep, and completely forgetting to even open the two bottles of sparkling cider we purchased the day before. My five-year-old son didn't stand a chance. By ten o'clock he was down for the count but our eight-year-old managed to hold out until about three minutes past midnight.

I hadn't made any resolutions this year. Maybe I didn't want to set myself up for failure. Maybe it was because I knew what my goals were each year and a resolution wasn't warranted. Or maybe there just weren't any rabid lobsters to vanquish anymore. To be fair, I've spent the last two days and nights trying to rid the house of the "vomit monster" which has taken hold of both my boys. It's a tricky and unpleasant task which includes the battle of the unending laundry.

This year I have been listening to everyone else's resolutions and finding which ones I have in common. The one thing I want to do is finish my fiction story and actually submit it to be published. I'm about 3/4 the way through but I get stuck on the "in between" stuff. Then when I re-read the story so I can get back into the mood and continue writing, my inner critic starts shouting, "You have to fix that right now! Fix it!" Then there's the ongoing internal dialogue to continue or go back.

Resolved: To push through, no matter how difficult the road, and get that story written. I will block out two hours every evening to write even if it cuts into my Bejewelled Blitz time. 'Cause you know those kinds of mindless games are so very important to play. Hey, it has been helping me develop my hand-eye coordination with my new laptop. Don't judge.