The First Saturday of the Year (and the Decade)

Saturday, January 2, 2010. It's a gray, cold, blustery day (isn't that a great word, 'blustery'?) here in the NE. I was forced out once on an errand but since then have been ensconced in my cozy, eaved, room, surrounded by my books, snacks, the newspaper, my laptop and a nice glass of the Georges du Boef Beaujolais Nouveau. Tasty!

It is the perfect Saturday for lounging. It's a long weekend and I did more chores early (where did all those dishes come from?). The cooking for the evening repast is yet to begin, and I'm going from blogging, to reading emails, to browsing the paper, trying to decide what book to read, and contemplating the first edits of my now-completed novel.

But I feel no guilt. There's tomorrow for that (and what better day than Sunday?). There's tomorrow for the week's shopping, cleaning, taking my brother back to his group home, and preparing for a week of work - the first full week back after the 2 month "holiday season" when everyone was all too ready to slack off, kick back, and take a breather but will now be faced with the daunting task of hitting the ground running.

This is the first Saturday not only of the new year, but of the new decade. 2009 was a tough year for me. Lots went wrong, little went right, but I learned a lot - painful lessons - about myself. So I'm heading into the New Year with a better sense of myself, some new goals (instead of resolutions - breaking a resolution sounds so much more serious, no? And I don't need the stress.).

One thing I'm going to promise myself is to give myself less grief, be less guilty, sweat the small stuff less, and take care of business before it makes me crazy.

And make sure that I save my Saturdays for me. To relax, muck about, and recharge for the rest of the week. Because I've got lots of resolutions, um, I mean GOALS for 2010.

But everyone needs to take a break now and then, right?