-

It’s the day after New Years Day 2021. I have already made a list of goals for the year. Not resolutions. Those are too demanding and only serve to make me feel like a failure when I don’t accomplish them. Goals are different though. Goals can be on-going journeys that take however long they take. One of my goals is to pay more attention to my blogs. See, what I mean. I don’t resolve to write in them every day. For one thing, I know I won’t. But I would like to be more consistent about it.

I’ve set the goal to finish editing and publish my new novel, My Neighbors from the Woods. It’s a story about a woman preserving her independence which just happens to include a family of Bigfoot as characters. I’m kind of hanging back on releasing it until its safe to gather in person and I can have a real-life book event.

Also, on my list of goals that I hope to do in 2021 (but its okay if I don’t) is to publish a book of poetry that’s been on the back burner for a couple of decades. It has a title, Missus Henry’s Muse. If you are a fan of Bob Dylan then you know who Missus Henry is. I keep adding poems. And will add some more, but hope to gather it all together, maybe bring some of my art along for the ride, and get it done. We’ll see.

Of course, there are things I couldn’t do in 2020 like hug people I love, especially the great-grands. And go to the beach and to Pungo Wildlife Refuge to see the bears. Make day trips with
Jackie and lunch with my friends. All things that I wasn’t able to do as of March 2020.

That said, I am grateful for yard visits and gathering at Beaver Dam State Park with friends and family. I am also grateful for online grocery ordering and curbside pickups. I am thankful for technology that lets me keep in touch with friends and family all over the world. 

Otherwise, life has been pretty much the same. I live alone surrounded by woods and fields. I enjoy wildlife and birds for neighbors. I am even thankful for the neighborhood skunk who I only know exists by the pungent smell it leaves behind some early mornings. I am welcoming 2021 as I would any year with anticipation and wonderment and a tad bit of trepidation of the unknown. Happy New Year!

Comments

J Dove-Miller said…
Your goals for the upcoming year are admirable, ones that sound reachable. Your gratitudes seem to outweigh the negatives in your personal surroundings. Thanks for that reminder.
January 2, 2021 at 1:19 PM
Donna Campbell Smith said…
I've had plenty of time to think about it.
January 2, 2021 at 2:24 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I Wasn't Really into Politics

-
Image
  I really wasn't into politics for most of my life. What I remember about politics was that Mama believed in voting for the man, not the party. Growing up almost everyone in my hometown were registered Democrat because there was some reason that had to do with voting in the primaries. I don’t know why to this day. But, in my idealistic 18-year-old brain I thought there should be a balance, so I registered Republican. And voted for Nixon! I worked at the poles and embroidered an elephant on my bell-bottomed blue jeans. Daddy defended Nixon through the whole Watergate thing, so I did too. I had no clue what it was all about. I don’t remember Mama voicing an opinion. She didn’t believe in arguing politics. It was forbidden at the dinner table. Fast forward past my young adult self. My husband was a union member and a shop-steward. He helped campaign for Kennedy. Our garage held stacks of yard signs and bumper stickers. He preached that the Democrats were for the working man. I di
Read more

I Wish I'd Asked Grandma

-
“I wish I’d asked Grandma while she was still here about the time . . ..” How many of us have said those very words? How many of us can’t remember the details of old stories once told out on the front porch after supper on a summer’s evening? Maybe we were young when the stories were being told and didn’t think we’d one day wish we’d listened more carefully. Wish we’d taken the time to write them down. I am preparing to facilitate a weeklong writing workshop titled Front Porch Stories . In this workshop we will be preserving those old stories we used to hear the grownups tell out on the front porch after supper. Before TV and computers folks told stories for entertainment. On a summer’s night after supper we sat out on the screened in front porch to catch a cool breeze and let supper settle before bedtime. We sipped iced tea or lemonade and talked. The little children played in the yard, chasing and catching lightning bugs. But even the children finally came to rest and lis
Read more

When the Lights go Out

-
Image
It is hurricane season, which heightens the chances of going without out power for a while. I learned there are lots of things we don’t really need to survive. Well, I already knew it from countless camping trips my husband and I took with the kids when they were little and we were poor. First of all flashlights will get you to the bathroom without stubbing your toes. And you can read by flashlight, find the potato chips and check to make sure the kids didn’t sneak out in the middle of the night. Second, cooking on the grill or over a wood fire is fun – for three days then it’s a pain in the tail because the kids get tired of gathering deadfall. Third, a five-gallon bucket and a toilet plunger will make a pretty good washing machine, and then there is the solar powered dryer, aka the clothesline. There are plenty of things you can do for fun besides watch TV or hanging out on social media: board games, read, walk, play out doors, sew, paint and draw, arts and crafts
Read more