Out with the Old and in with the New...

Every year my family and I build a fire in the fireplace on New Year's Eve. We may make s'mores in the heat of the flames, but mostly they are used for burning the old year's unwanted, bad feelings and memories. Writing on little scraps of paper, then crushed and thrown into the fire is a cathartic experience and cleanses the way for thinking about hopes and wishes for the new year. When my son was only two, he would sit determinedly with a pencil scribbling all the bad things he could think of: monsters in the closet, the sandbox incident with his next door neighbor, the vegetables he did not like to eat and the potty all burned with the bad. It helps to get all those negative memories and worries out of the way! Of course, Cooper loved the burning of paper so much, that it was hard to get him to think of hopes and wishes for the new year which we merely placed in a wooden box to be read the next year! 

This is how I prefer to think of the new year-- as a time to write down hopes and wishes for the coming year-- not resolutions, which seem so bound to fail. Thus, here are 10 potato wishes for 2009:

1. Continue posting and reading and getting to know all my new Potato friends.

2. Finish painting the illustrations for "One Night" a story written by Wendy Orr-- with a 

deadline!

3. Write and paint the new stories that keep swimming in my head with my *new* Corel painter, (Thanks David!) 

4. Read a poem every morning before journaling-- this helps stir my language and outlook first thing. A paradigm shift of sorts.

5. Read picture books every day. Now since my children are no longer young enough to be read to, I have to make a concerted effort to read picture books daily-- a welcome concerted effort!

6. Write a fantastical and wondrous script for Circus Juventas-- this year is an Asian theme and I not only write the script for their August show, but I also design their sets along with another creative designer!

7. Balance my studio life with my family. My daughter is going to be in her last year of high school in 2009-2010 and there is so much opening up for her and us, I want to be present! 

8. Balance my studio life with my friends. This means walks, coffee shops, and studio visits, and any other creative ways of staying in touch we can figure out!

9. Take time for my self. Solitude and visits with nature, museums, concert halls, and book stores are all nurturing and ways of creating new possibilities.

10. Travel-- I hope 2009 brings some lovely travels! I already know I will be traveling to India in October for a school visit! And this summer will bring family travels to visit colleges and more family-- so it is getting off to a good start.

I will stop here at that magic number of ten, however I didn't even begin to write my hopes and wishes for this country of ours. In less than a week we will have a new president and with this a new way of being in the world-- I hope and wish!