Those of you who have been following me for the past six years, know that I have written many times about old age and the New Year – I recommend particularly “Baby New Year and Old Father Time” and “New Year’s Resolutions in Old Age.” This blog – When I Come to Be Old – is titled after a list of resolutions that Jonathan Swift wrote in 1699 when he was a young man; one of them, of course, is “Not to tell the same story over and over to the same people.” So I will refrain from repeating my previous comments about the year becoming new as we continue to get old.
However, I did have some thoughts about New Year’s resolutions. Every January, I fill a page of my journal with new resolutions. I falter on some, but I keep many. I haven’t missed a day of French on Duolingo since last January; I have read the books I promised myself to get to. But even re-solutions kept are not solutions. It is right in the word. Resolutions are things we have to do over and over again, trying to find a way to make life better (or longer or more fun). Maybe the most effective resolution is to come to a sense of peace with our life as it is.
I did write a new story for the new year, “Hallelujah, It’s a Mouse,” which is – in a way – about new beginnings. Happy New Year to all. I wish us all peace and solutions.
When I Come To Be Old 