I hope you had a safe, satisfying New Year’s.
And, you are free to define safe and satisfying in whatever way fits your lifestyle.
For me, it involves being in bed by 9 p.m. on Dec. 31 and sleeping until the sun rises.
I know there are those micro-managers who believe the new year can’t start unless they are there to supervise, but hey.
I trust the celestial powers to do their jobs, just as they did long before I was on the scene.
New Year’s always manages to happen whether I am awake or not.
In the past, I have made several New Year’s resolutions, including two perennials: 1, to eat no liver, and 2, to not visit Kazahkstan.
I have remade those resolutions for 2020, but I am adding another one, which is to do my best to follow the Golden Rule for 365 days, plus Leap Day.
As you know, each of us has a little red devil whispering into one ear and an equally small angel whispering into the other.
For years, my little devil has lived on my right shoulder and the angel on the left.
Through the years, however, I have developed serious hearing loss in my left ear.
I think this stems from teenaged years spent driving tractors with my head cocked sideways to keep an eye on implements. Those shotguns probably didn’t help, either.
Whatever the reason, it had given an advantage to my little devil, whom I call “Arky.”
I want 2020 to be my best year ever. When it ends, I would like to know I was the best possible version of myself.
So, I reassigned my shoulders.
Arky now sits on my left shoulder and has already shouted himself hoarse trying to be heard.
He didn’t go willingly, trying to stab me with his tiny pitchfork and holding on to my shirt like a cat clawing a blanket.
But there he is, nonetheless.
The little angel, whom I call “Ellen” and whose breath smells like peaches, now lives on my right shoulder and spends much of her time sipping tea and fanning me with her wings.
I am not sure how the year will play out. Maybe I really will do unto others as I would have them to do unto me. Maybe not.
At least, I will hear Ellen better.