New Year, New ?

The lead-up to the new year always makes me a crazy person.  A physical embodiment of the emoji with the big eyes and clenched teeth.

It's not so much the reflection on the past year and what I have or haven't accomplished --  I stopped making serious resolutions a few years ago -- but more the giant shiny orb of possibility hovering there. Waiting.  I mean, last year I decided in April that we had to stop dreaming and talking about going to London and Paris and just do it.  And we did.  I had no idea last New Year's Eve as I waited for midnight that we'd be riding bikes around a shimmering night-time Paris in October.  Super exciting, right, the possibility of a new year?

And yet, I made that decision to go on our adventure because I had a health scare.  Well, let's be honest, I live in a state of perpetual health scare, but this one seemed more plausible than the others.  When you're a cancer survivor (long story.  I feel certain it'll come up again) any little off-kilter thing can feel THIS BIG.  It all turned out fine, but after it was over I was just done with waiting to go places and do things. See, the shiny orb of possibility can hold this kind of stuff, too.  And that's what makes me crazy.

Sitting on my couch waiting for the potato to drop on TV (yes, in Idaho it's a potato that drops.  I don't get it, either) I couldn't stop thinking of what life will look like next December 31st.  I could be sitting on the same couch revising a book I've written while holding a baby we've adopted, or I could be sick or injured or grieving.  So many possibilities.

Then again, I was thinking this through while getting ready for work this morning and I thought, forget about years.  Days have the same shiny possibilities hanging around.  Hours.  Minutes.  I don't need a crystal ball. I just need to live.

With that out of the way, I do have a few resolution-esque things I'd like to see/do/work on this year:

• I would like to lay off the Amaro filter on Instagram.  I'm in the process of putting together our photo book from 2013 and there's an inordinate amount of Amaro happening.  It needs to stop.
• I'd like to go to some professional library conferences this year.  I've met a lot of cool people through the Internets and I'd like to meet them in person.  And, you know, learn stuff.  And fangirl over authors until the authorities are called.
• I want to do a lot of little clean-up/organization projects around the house that will eventually equal a clean and organized abode
• I will edit my photos as I go this year and not during a three-day editing marathon in December 
• I'll try to read 100 books this year, not counting picture books
• I will aim to walk to work as many days as I can

Here's to the shiny orb of possibility that is 2014.