End of Year Reflections

I may not be ready to commit to resolutions, but how can I resist looking back at this momentous and hard year? It's too obvious to me what I haven't done, what is still monumentally screwed up (finances), so instead I'm going to focus on. . .

Accomplishments

We moved across the country, so that instead of looking out at the same old Urban Home City I was born in and moved away from in 1995 hoping never to return, I'm looking out at snow. My child is going to be brought up to see snow not as something scary, but as another kind of fun. Not only was the move successful, but we moved twice and now we're in a town that seems pretty damn great actually.

I started a tenure-track job, taught classes, served/am serving usefully, I hope, on committees, volunteered for needed service, and am now getting back into my own scholarship.

My beautiful child is a year older. He's so gorgeous and happy, except for the killer molar teething that's screwed up any sleep schedule he's ever had, that I figure I can't have screwed him up too much, except that he's probably not getting enough structure and outside stimulation, both of which we're working on right now and getting him into a carefully chosen day care will help correct.

I learned some very valuable things about myself, including that I have limited time and energy and need to choose my commitments carefully, what I think is useful in this world of ours, and what I have to say to people.

I've made some goals about getting back into writing creative work, which I think I'm finally ready to get back into.

I've gotten back into cooking in a big way, making my first turkey on Thanksgiving and Yorkshire pudding on Christmas.

I consolidated my student loans.

I taught myself how to single crochet.