I’ve been writing the Good Earthkeeping columns since I moved to Grafton and joined the garden club. Two friends I made in the club shared my enthusiasm to write a column for the Grafton News. I proposed the title, approached editor Charlie Bolack, and voila, my friends and I had a column to enjoy writing. Only it turned out they didn’t have as much fun doing it as I did, and soon turned the whole column over to me. Eventually I joined Word Press and began posting here.

          I began this column in the early nineties when the trend toward holistic and natural goods and behaviors was beginning to crest. At that time, the content and direction of my column was primarily informational. It concerned healthy cleaning solutions, book reports on helpful texts, ways to recycle, and occasionally, something from my point of view. After some time I discovered that many of my readers preferred the more personal columns, so I trimmed my sails to the proverbial wind, so to speak and focused more and more on perspective pieces.

          Since some of my perspective is a reflection of my experiences both as a child and as an adult, pieces of my personal history began to creep into my writings. Many readers have since commented on how much they like that aspect of it.  Once again I have seen the way the wind blows and acted accordingly. It’s fun for me to share some of the memories I have of times before computers and cell phones, not to mention 24 hour television programming. Some of you may remember the test patterns on the small black and white TV we watched as children. They began when the evening programming ended.

          So where do the New Year Resolutions fit into this picture? Quite simply I’m not making any this year. My resolutions do not seem to survive the first few months, and they usually have to do with projects not behaviors. If I could say that the projects I resolved to complete were finished or the behaviors changed,  I might still make a resolution or two. Yet I’ve come to the conclusion that maybe making a resolution about something to accomplish or even work on for the new year jinxes the project. And that worries me, so this year I resolve not to resolve, I will instead welcome any surprises that the year has to offer.        

The way things have gone in my life, it seems that everything falls together the way that ultimately works best. So why should I meddle? I do know that there are things I once wished for that I am relieved I didn’t get, and things I never thought to wish for that to my delight have. I will leave the resolving and long term planning to the Powers that Be and focus on the present moment in the new year to come. Wait…does that sound like a resolution? Shh no that’s not a resolution, just my focus for my life. Happy New Year to all, I wish you, my dear readers every joy in the year to come.