Over the past fourteen years, I spent a great deal of time each week writing, revising, editing, critiquing, and publishing books. With that suddenly gone from my life, I found I had a lot of time on my hands. I usually don't make New Year's Resolutions, but I decided to make a few for 2019.
- Practice the flute every day. I'd formed a habit of playing for a few days and then setting my flute aside for months at a time. Consequently, I was never ready to play when asked, and I sounded horrible when I picked up the flute on December 31st and tried to play a song. A week later, my tone is returning, as is my ability to quickly read music. I even reached that elusive Eb in the upper register. Once.
- Learn to speak French. I had two semesters of the language in high school. While I could, surprisingly, sometimes understand bits of conversations I overheard that were spoken in French, I've forgotten much of what I'd learned in my classes. Living in Texas, I chose Spanish for my college language requirement, and I used that skill on occasion while working at an international telecom in Dallas. But I've always wanted to go back and learn French well enough to read and converse in that language. I'm a week into my studies. I'm constantly confusing masculine and feminine forms, but I'm making progress.
- Clean As I Go. No one who knows me would call me lazy. Quite the opposite. It's true I'm a hard worker and a self starter, but I also know myself and know I do indeed have a lazy side. It emerges more at home than it does at work. Too often after work, I'll walk past a pile of something or a task that needs completing, and plop on the couch. I spent my adult life cleaning up for and after my family, and at some point in the past decade, I decided I'd had enough. While I no longer need to throw myself into house cleaning as I once did, I do need to be more proactive at home.