Two-thousand-eleven!

Happy New Year! My family rang in the year with the stomach bug and laryngitis. Whoopee! We're on the mend now; it was only Abby and Earl who had the stomach bug, and while I'm kind of hoarse, I was still able to sing a mass this morning (hopefully will be able to do one this afternoon and tomorrow, too!)

I spent a little time over the past day or so reading my blog entries from 2010. What a year! It's amazing to me how things have changed. Even knowing full well that there had been changes, it still surprised me to read entries from last spring, before I had these three new jobs I've been blessed with, when Timmy was still in preschool, when I was doing more feature-writing than I am now. I'd say, overall, things are better now.

Sure, I miss the comparatively less-packed schedule I enjoyed before this fall, when I could meet a friend for coffee without panicking that I wouldn't get my writing done. The funny thing, though, is that the more I have to do, the more I actually get done. It must have to do with that deadline-driven work style I have. (Maybe I should set deadlines for housework!)

More changes are coming, in that this is the last weekend of my afternoon mass cantoring schedule. I've been singing a 4:00 mass on Saturdays and a 5:00 mass on Sundays for about 10 years, and have decided to give them up, given my new position at St. Catherine's. I've let the music directors at the Quincy churches know I'll be available to substitute, but I won't have an afternoon commitment on Saturdays and Sundays every single weekend any more. It will be nice to be able to plan activities, or even just spend more relaxed time with my family, without knowing I have to run out and sing those masses.

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I spent some time this afternoon purging old files. Our home office has been a cluttered mess for some time, and I vowed that I would clean it up during this vacation week. It's not totally there yet, but I've made a very good start. Today I threw away reams and reams of paper -- everything from Brian's Early Intervention ABA session notes, to various iterations of his and Abby's old IEPs. Earl had also been very involved in the Special Education Parents Advisory Council for our district a few years ago, and we tossed a lot of his old papers and notes from that, too. Hallelujah!

The office still needs more work, but it feels great to have ditched all that paper, which has no bearing on our lives any more.

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My New Years' resolutions are pretty simple -- lose 15 pounds (probably more like 20; I've been afraid to step on the scale for the past two weeks) and be more patient. Pretty much the same as they are every year! I've got some external motivation for the weight loss, though, with a college reunion coming up in the summer. As for the patience...well, it would just be a good idea. My "Just a Minute" column for the Ledger was on this subject. It's not online yet, but I'll post a link when it is (or publish it myself if need be.)

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I'd like to write something about hopes and dreams for 2011, but I don't do hopes and dreams very well. It's probably a personality thing, but I immediately start to think about plans and strategies, rather than just letting myself be hopeful and dreamy. But if I really tried...
- I'd imagine Abby's Asperger's becoming a negligible force in her life
- I'd become a truly syndicated columnist, with the financial arrangements to match
- I'd have time to swim every day, or at least as often as I wanted to
- I'd see our family debt-free
- I'd have time to relax and do something totally indulgent (like watch a movie!) without the nagging feeling that I really should be doing something productive

Some items on the list are ridiculous; others, maybe not so much. In the spirit of hope that comes with a new year, I'm not going to stomp on any of them, but just let them be, and see which, if any, will be.