Resolutions

As we roll into another new year, I, like most everyone else on the planet, am trying to make a list in my head of all the resolutions I would like to make. Such as...

Start flossing. I mean, not just right before the biannual trip to the dentist. But a habitual, every day occurrence. Don't judge me. Like you floss. Please.

Stop drinking soda. I've made this resolution every single year. It never holds up. So this year I've decided to give myself a little leeway. No more soda EXCEPT Diet Mt. Dew. Everyone has their vices. And Diet Dew is mine. 2011 will not be without it.

Complete my second movie list. 40 movies. I can do that. I've done that.

Learn how to properly budget my dollars. I've been called a frugal before. I'm not worried about accidentally spending every dime I have or winding up eyeball-deep in credit card debt. But I want to learn how to be an adult and learn how to budget.

By the end of 2011, I want what I am henceforth referring to as "My Own." I want my own walls, my own mail, my own bed, my own sheets and pillows on that bed, my own gas in my own car, my own view from my own window. So what if I'm renting? So what if I got help getting there? I want to end 2011 with a whole bunch of "my owns."

And graduate college. And that's all I have to say about that.

I had a very interesting and all-in-all very satisfying 2010. It's very nice to have this blog. I can look back on so much this way. But 2011 will be different. Bigger. My life will change in 2011. Because I will graduate. I will move out of my parents' house. I will have to find a real job. I will have to pay my own bills. I will be on my own. It's scary as hell but I am very excited. May the Lord bless me and keep me. Gosh, am I allowed to say that to myself? I guess at times in life such as this, it's allowed in His eyes. I'd say He gets a nice chuckle because of me on multiple occasions. Here I am, freaking out, worrying, being me. And He has everything under control, much to my forgetfulness. I would be chuckling, too. It's part of why I love Him so much.

Here's to 2010. The smiles. The tears. The loves. The pain. The lessons learned. And here's to 2011. May the next chapter be one of equal richness and greater maturity. Happy new year, everyone. May all your resolutions, big or small, be realized. I am thinking of you tonight as the clock strikes twelve.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?

We'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.