Happy New Year!

And to 2020? Don't let the door hit you where the good lord split you. 

I know dates like this are kind of arbitrary, and yet I always have thought of the new year as a time to reflect a little and look forward a little. 

It's been a nice vacation. We got the kids out of the house a couple times, including on a nice nature walk today at Effie Yeaw. I sometimes don't know what to make of Kai -- for a brilliant kid, Kai really isn't a great communicator. But I mentioned going to Sutter's Landing today, because it had been a tradition for the two of us. And he said that's exactly why we shouldn't take Lochlan there. We should go somewhere else to keep the tradition as it was. 

At first, I was a little hurt that he couldn't expand out tradition to include his little brother, but then I thought that for Kai, that probably is a way of saying that the two-of-us time was special and should be preserved in some way. I'm okay with that. 

Sometimes I worry that I'm not that great at communicating something myself -- like, I'm such an enormous super-fan of my friends, but also, sometimes I don't reach out much or spend a lot of time with them. But a friend who moved away many years ago is moving back here, and will be close by. So (with permission from our mutual friend who has been facilitating the long-distance move) I've been secretly going over there and cleaning (with Mom's help), putting in shelf liner, assembling flat-pack furniture, a little light caulking... in the hopes that I could help take a load off her and make it a welcoming, kid-ready home. It feels good to do this for her, because showing up with an allen wrench and some CLR is one way of showing love, I think. 

As always, I don't really make New Year's resolutions, but there are lots of things I'd like to do and pursue and learn. I looked up beginning guitar classes, arranged the garage to have space to work out at home, bought some vitamins that will be delivered next week, scheduled a mammogram, and thought a little about my consumption of goods (I honestly like to shop, and the pandemic has made it feel really easy to just have stuff delivered to the door). 

My cousin remarked on how much my uncle enjoyed my songwriting the other day, and I feel a little like I ought to honor that by writing some songs (there have been several sitting in my brain's back pocket). I would like to correspond more with my friends and family. 

I don't really want to focus on losing weight, but it doesn't hurt to make sure that I'm remembering Michael Pollan's advice: eat food, not too much, mostly plants. 

I might try to remember to use nighttime moisturizer, as I turn 45 in less than two weeks. 

My mom made split pea soup today, which is always our "lucky" New Year tradition (disrupted somewhat in the last few years). It was nice to share a meal, to imagine a positive future, to eat delicious soup, to laugh at funny memories together. Kai wants to learn to make the garlic bread with me. 

I am called for bedtime reading. 

Happy New Year.