Is it because I'm getting older that a brand new year no longer holds so much mystique? Perhaps. Perhaps, it's been coming on for awhile. Mike and I have never, in our almost 15 years of marriage, done the New Year's Eve party route. We've never really been big on making the resolutions either. Maybe it's because we live fairly tame lives and we don't really have anything truly worth swearing off? I mean, yes, I need to lose some weight, but I've needed to do that since I was 12 years old and I don't really think that RESOLVING to do it on Dec 31st will inevitably make me a skinny person. I wish, but I also doubt... highly. So, the whole New Year's Resolution Thing kind of makes me a bit ho-hum. I just don't really see the point. Frankly, I just don't care. The numerous commercials and fad diets and health clubs that profit from the American tendency to RESOLVE each new year makes me just a bit sad.
Having said all of that, Mike and I have made the decision to try to cut back on our web surfing time. I think that spending a week in San Saba with Mike's family (a week in which most everyone there spent considerable time web surfing) and then spending a week in Wynnewood with my family (a week in which NO ONE spent time on the computer because there is no internet service) opened our eyes to what is needful and what is excessive when it comes to computer time. Yes, while in Wynnewood there were a few times when having the ability to quickly get online and find a particular piece of information would have been helpful. However, we were always able to find the needed information by simply using the phone book (YES! They still exist!) or by reading the newspaper (Yes! These also are not extinct!) Because the computer wasn't really an option, we spent many an evening laughing and talking with my dad about all kinds of topics. Mike and I agreed that we have, in the past, spent too much time just spending time on the computer. We had no motives or higher purposes in being online, we just WERE online. We've agreed that this is bad for our relationship and bad for our children. So, we're cutting down on that. From now on our laptop shall remain in the office and not toted around the house to be used while also watching television or while the kids are playing. We want to be more present, more accessible, and less distracted. I don't want my kids to have to compete for my attention with a 14 inch computer screen.
I guess that could be construed as a new year's resolution, but I prefer to think of it as a mutual decision made with my husband on how to be better parents and spouses. The timing of the decision had more to do with two weeks spent with family and less to do with the time of year.
While I may seem cynical on the whole new year thing, I'm really not! I do wish you and yours a wonderful and blessed 2011.
