New Year's Resolutions 2012... commentary from Joan Carris BEAUFORT, NC (pre) - Custom dictates that it's time for us to make our New Year's resolutions. These resolutions typically let us in for a lot of teasing or downright ridicule as the year moves along. Eventually someone is bound to say, "Okay, Mrs. Fluffy, what happened to your resolution to lose 20 pounds this year?"
Heaven knows I TRIED to lose 20 pounds, so that was clearly a flawed resolution. If I cannot devise sensible, realistic resolutions, I cannot hope to make them come true, so this year I plan to craft goals I can honestly expect to achieve, and not too many of them either, because my record with resolutions is unfortunate. One New Year's Day when our children were young, I resolved to be calm at all times; to ignore the toys strewn throughout the house until pick-up time after dinner; and to behave in a more loving manner toward our gerbils, who were producing six brand new baby gerbils every six weeks. I was impressively successful with those resolutions that day.
Early on January 2nd, our three kids were piling on clothes to walk to their bus stops when their father yelled from the family room, "The cover on the gerbils' cage is off and they're all gone! Everybody come help!"
The oldest shouted, "I have to go or I'll miss my bus!" and shot out the door. Her brother and sister chorused, "Me, too!" and slammed the door behind them.I hollered, "You kids come back here!" but of course, that was hopeless. I ran for the family room, tripped on a castle made of Lego blocks, and fell full length, narrowly missing the father gerbil. I snatched him up in one fast grab and told him exactly what I thought of him in words we do not say on the radio. I said the same or worse to his wife and children, thereby breaking all of my resolutions within the first 24 hours.
Therefore I'm doing the whole business differently this year. My first sensible, achievable resolution is to lose two pounds. If I lose two pounds every year for the next 10 years, I will have lost those 20 pounds without all the angst.
My second resolution is to say what I think, especially when things go wrong, and not feel guilty about it. Why grow older, working to acquire wisdom, if you cannot express yourself honestly?
My last resolution for 2012, and my favorite one, is to spend at least two hours every day doing exactly what I want, not what I'm "supposed" to be doing. If more resolutions were like this, we'd be more successful with them.

Joan D. Carris, 8 January 2012
© Copyright 2012, pre