NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS...

Readers of my former long-time newspaper column always asked me at this time of year what my New Year's resolutions would be. And I would always admit that I have never made them.

Why not? I'm not really sure. Perhaps I haven't wanted to disappoint myself if I haven't kept them.

Or perhaps I simply never made the ceremonial "big deal" about the change from one year to another. After all, I sometimes joke, that change means I have to remember to write a new date on my check, and that's something I don't adapt to overnight. (Sometimes, in fact, the next year comes along at about the same time I've finally begun to automatically write the correct date; and then it's not correct anymore!)

And what about New Year's Eve? That never meant a lot to me either. I think such habits begin early, and it never emerged as an important thing on my calendar. As a teen, I would be looking forward to the baby-sitting money I could bring home on New Year's Eve---double the usual hourly rate; and sometimes more! And because my customers stayed out later on that night, the dollars really added up.

Was I a greedy girl? No. I was simply a girl who was one of the older children of a very large family, and my father had died suddenly when I was a high-school freshman. Helping to bring money into the household was important, and so was school. That required balance. I enjoyed life; I enjoyed high school; I loved my classmates and still do. But my worries had changed as suddenly as we had lost our father.

Go ahead... Share your New Year's Eve adventures and misadventures. Share  the New Year's resolutions you will make and break. Who doesn't enjoy those often entertaining stories?

But the old year will end and the new one will begin without any real help from me. 
Even if I choose to watch a movie on TV, I will be sleeping soundly when the change occurs. 

No matter how hard this Olde Rose tries to stay awake.