Happy New Year!
Over winter break Ben was signed up for a couple of classes through Polk County Conservation. One of them was canceled due to a lack of interest. I was pretty disappointed, it was a survival course about the proper way to build fires and survive in the wild. Perhaps I should suggest the class for adults – I am honestly really interested in learning how to do these things better (though my fire building has improved as of late). The other was the one he was really excited about so we were all glad that one was still on. It was an air rifle class. He learned gun safety for the first half and then they went target shooting for the second half. He had a blast and found out he is a pretty good shot.
I am not going to run out and buy him a gun anytime soon. The kid is still a bleeding heart (though he won’t admit it when it comes to actually shooting something other than a target he shies away). But I do like the thought of him having an understanding of how the equipment works and an ability to use it. I don’t mind him target shooting, and at some point, gun use will be his own decision. In the meantime, as long as guns exist, I’d like the boys to understand how to be around them safely (and if I’m being really honest, not be the only one in the room who doesn’t know what to do with one).
While Ben was in class, Sam and I drove the loops of Jester Park checking out the elk and bison and enjoying some time alone together. We decided we were hungry and had a brunch date at the diner, just the two of us before heading back to pick up Ben.
The rest of the week consisted of trips to coffee shops, lots of board games, books, and long chatty walks until New Year’s Eve. In the past this day has consisted of the Science Center for the balloon drop, decorating the house, and inviting over friends for a night of games or movies. This year, however, the boys really wanted to keep the whole affair low-key. I think we wore them out doing all of the Christmas things. So we spent the day relaxing together and the evening having a simple meal with raspberry sorbet, something I really love, for dessert. The boys sipped on sparkling cider in fancy glasses while we played board games and video games together until midnight. We intermittently checked in on the New Year’s Eve shows and dressed up a little, but mostly, we just spent time together. It was so nice.
January 1st has changed for us too. We used to make big, sweeping resolutions like weight loss, exercise goals, and points for success. Now we look toward betterment, balance, and hope for a good year ahead. We have a fun tradition of filling out a quiz each year for each member of the family. The boys like to read back the old ones. It’s starting to take a long time to get through all of them. But, we love it and look forward to some of the really funny answers they used to give or remember things about each other we’ve forgotten. We make videos for our hopes for the year ahead. I compile the one-second-a-day video from the year we just had. We watch and recall – we can never believe all that happened in one year.
Reflecting on the year we had, looking to the year ahead, it may be an artificial break in time. We may have invented the calendar and decided January 1st was the time to turn over the year, but real change or not – it is a time we all have chosen to contemplate our lives for a moment, embrace the joy those around us have given us, and make purposeful choices on how to move forward. I think that is a beautiful thing.
