I Hereby Resolve

I Hereby Resolve

By Cleve Taylor

Wow, 2021 has passed fast for me. I recognize that part of the reason time sped up is due to age. As an octogenarian I recognize that each new year represents an increasing percentage of the rest of my life, so those minutes, hours, days, months and years are incredibly important, and fly by far too fast. It is not like when I was a child and time slugged by at snail's pace and I was anxious to age and get on with my life. I expect 2022 to be the year of the hare.

But I also acknowledge that time speeds by when you are engaged in rewarding activities. Pandemic sheltering gave me the opportunity to write over 140 vocal.media stories and poems, and I felt so good writing those 600 word plus pieces, that I confidently signed up for the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge to write a 50,000-plus-words book during the month of November. I completed my book a few days ahead of the deadline, and it will be available on Amazon Kindle as an E-book and a paperback before the end of December, 2021. Without my seven months of writing and submitting to vocal.media, I would not have had the confidence to take on a novel.

So what to do in 2022 ?

My aunt, in her last year of life, signed up for a river boat cruise with her daughter and granddaughter. She told me that she and her deceased husband had lived most of their marriage below their means, and she was playing catch up. In 2022 I intend to initiate upgrades to my pleasures and activities. That includes buying premium beers instead of America's most popular brand, staying at the Hilton instead of less expensive hotels, and to continue drinking my premium single malts rather than leaving them untouched for my heirs.

A year ago we purchased dual electric recliners and put them in front of a new large TV. In 2022 in between my Poe time, nodding nearly napping, I expect to see more of the streaming entertainment that people recommend to me.

I intend to continue to write short stories, and might even tackle another novel next November. I find writing engaging and desirable.

Then there's reading. My local library is sure to have added new books during November and December that are crying to be read, and I certainly intend to heed their cries. I prefer printed books, but with the convenience of E-books, I find that more and more of the books I read are delivered electronically.

As far as self pampering goes, there is little better than a shot of Laphroaig single malt, feet up, and a good book in hand. Or if not a book, my Samsung tablet where I look up esoteric subjects, or write in response to a vocal.media Challenge. I really look forward to the Challenges. Sculpting a story to be responsive to the criteria for submission, is equivalent to finishing a New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle, or putting that last puzzle piece into a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle.

Then there's health to be tended to. Sit-ups daily for the back, regular walks around the neighborhood, fewer carbohydrates in my food to maintain weight and stave off pre diabetes, eight hours of sleep every night even if many of them don't start until one or two a.m., taking pills each day and not ending up with a couple of days of pills remaining in my week's pill box at the end of the week.

In summary, I am resolving to do what I can to stay healthy, to read and write often, to sip dark ales and Scottish spirits, and to avail myself of the comforts of home including entertainment and napping in the recliner.