Happy New (School) Year

I do NOT make New Year’s Resolutions! In January, I am so proud of myself for having survived the holidays that the idea of pumping up some fabulous plan for the year disheartens me. I am always trying to do better in every area of my life, so what is the point? That said, I DO feel a special kind of energy as the new school year approaches. I haven’t been headed back to school in the fall since 1995 when I started my Licensed Practical Nursing program. And I haven’t sent a child back to school since……hmmm, can’t remember, oh well, a long time! But, every year in mid-August, I start to STIR internally. I want a new backpack full of pencils and spiral notebooks, post it notes, and colored pens, highlighters, crayons, chalk, 3x5 cards (white and colored!), and a 3 ring binder…… I want to go shopping for new shoes, and a great sweater, and a plaid skirt (sorry, but I really do want a plaid skirt)! I want to get my hair cut, and write out a schedule, and get a stack of books, and meet new people, and write a report! SO! How do I fit all of this energy into my “not going back to school” life? Well, I can still get the stack of books! I LOVE the library, she is one of my best friends! I have projects to work on! I have toyed with learning new languages. I can passably understand French (at least I did OK with the menu at the patisserie in Strasbourg during my Summer trip there [pats self on back] and I have picked up some Spanish words. My exposure to German, and learning to decipher food labels, (my favorite German word is geschmack/flavor) and menus, and road signs has made me feel like I really DO have an affinity for languages! So why not appreciate this gift and help myself LEARN those languages. I already have the Learn French CDs so I can really get going on that one. I have French and Spanish dictionaries, just need to get one in German! My house and garden are in SERIOUS need of attention! I love my house, but everything that has ever entered its doors has remained! PURGE! What is all that stuff in those bathroom cabinets??? Why do I have all that old stuff in my kitchen cabinets? Can’t three quarters of the stuff on the shelves in the garage go away? Sewing Room??? Don’t even get me started! I am so excited to get in there and put our home and garden to the best use. Project, Project, Project! I look forward to a happier more welcoming home. Weed out that front walkway, weed out those crazy lavender bushes gone WILD, plant some beautiful Autumn flower planters, put river rocks under our porches. Fall food is another project I love. Menus, recipes, cook books, new ingredients, farmer’s markets, pretty dishes! I like to eat really healthy food! I DO NOT like to be on a diet! No, no, no! Joie de Vivre has been my motto for a long time! Goodness for me and my family and my friends. More of the good stuff is my way of planning our food. I like the attitude of enjoying food without guilt because what I choose is so good for me and my family. Sometimes, I see recipes or restaurant offerings, and I think, “I wish I could have that” and then I remember, I CAN! I just have to figure out how to make it! The library and the internet really help me with this project. Back in the day, when I got my school schedule and it said one of my classes would take place in the girl’s gym, I wanted to cry! YUK! I hated gym. Unlike other girls, I LIKED the gym uniform, navy shorts and a white t-shirt, it was really comfy and I liked my tennis shoes. My comfy uniform was the ONLY thing I liked about gym. Now, a hundred years later, I have found my nitch in the gym! Stationary bike, free weight lifting, machine weights (my favorite exercise is squat/row) and the reward and happiest place at the gym is water aerobics, and lap swimming in the POOL!!! I play music, listen to books and even have a workout program I listen to at the gym. Who would have thought I would ever ENJOY gym class? So as fall approaches and summer winds down, I renew my determination to improve my health and physical abilities at the gym. Grand baby number 14 will arrive this Fall! I can’t wait to meet little Austin. He will be the next in the line of treasures in my life. I love my grandchildren. No! I mean I LOVE them with all my heart. Each one brings joy to me every time I see them or hear about them. I want to be the best grandmother for them. I thinks, and plot, and plan ways to show my love for them. I don’t give them a lot of stuff, but I try to listen to them and let them know they are my very most important people. As their numbers grow, I find I have as much love for the next as I do for the first. Just like when I was raising my own children, I wondered how I could love another child as much as I loved the ones I already had, but love grows and there is never a short supply. My birthday comes in the Autumn, and I look forward to celebrating another year of my life. I am very happy. I have struggles, trials, and disappointments, but mostly I am content. I know that God is in His Heaven and that He is my Father. I know that He watches over me. He inspires me and blesses me every day. He gives me wonderful gifts. I have so many resources available to me. I try to share. I try to be aware of what He would have me do, and I try to do it. This brings me great joy. So as the new school year approaches, I make my resolutions to live, to love, to give, to enjoy, to clean out, to weed out, to reach out, to stretch, and to see the world for the wonderful place that it is. Join me in this Joie de Vivre! Happy New (School) Year!!!