Happiest of Happy New Years!

(I'm not going to dwell on how disappointing 2011 was. It's a new year!)

My mom started a new tradition this Christmas. Each of us stood in front of tree and held a white board on which we wrote our names, the year and a word to sum up the year. I chose "transition", which felt like an obvious (and generous) choice. And though the new year has barely begun, I've already picked a word for 2012.

Foundation.

Everything for the last four years has been temporary. Each school and job and apartment and city has had an expiration date right from the beginning. That's not really the case, anymore. So maybe 2012 will be a good year to make things solid, to work hard and try to save money, to find an apartment, to join a gym, to take a cooking class and to set goals that stretch beyond a single year. I'm not sure entirely what those will be, yet, but I'm looking forward to finding out.

It might be a good year to start a novel. Just start one and see what happens.

Welcome, 2012. It's nice to see you. Let's make some plans.