I have never quite understood the concept of New Year’s resolutions. If you have a bad habit that you would like to break, what is the magic about doing it on the first of the year. The time to attack a problem is when you recognize that you have one. My dad would never whip me in public, but he would promise me a whipping when I got home due to some transgression I committed out in public. Trust me- – He Never broke that promise no matter how angelic I was for the rest of the evening. I view New Year’s resolutions in much the same manner except this time you are promising yourself that you are going to do or cease doing something that you would prefer not happen. As my saintly mother often told me, “Son, you have some character flaws, and I hope to correct them for your sake.” However, procrastination has never been one of those character flaws. I would much rather face the consequences now rather than dreading it later.

One of the very few nice things about becoming more “mature” is that temptations and bad habits seem to decrease with age. I am too much of a sissy to do anything that would make me feel badly the next day, and my soul will no longer allow me to do anything that would give me remorse the next day. Perhaps that is why Cader IV often tells me that he thinks that I’m just cramming for the final exam for entrance into the Pearly Gates. As I have told him repeatedly, “Heaven is my home, but I ain’t homesick yet.” There are many things that I hope to do yet, and I hope to have miles to go before I sleep. Speaking of sleep, one of my favorite stories involved a little boy who said, “I want to die in my sleep like my Grandpa did rather than dying like the other three people in the car who were screaming when Grandpa fell asleep at the wheel.” Had Grandpa had Martha Cox as a back seat driver that would have been impossible. She has completely worn out a non-existent break on the floorboard of the front passenger side of my car along with strange hissing sounds as I approach a car. Martha could not drive in Atlanta, home of the rudest drivers in the US, where you only have a second to squeeze into a space that the driver in the next lane is determined to cut you off from making.

But now, back to New Year’s musing thoughts. Like all holidays, New Years is more fun when you get to spend time with folks whose memories are vaguer than yours. Sadly, that is not the case with my children. I’m fairly certain that they recall events from before they were even born, but I don’t trust my memory enough to argue with them. That is one reason I enjoy spending time with OLD friends. If we can’t recall an event correctly, we just make it sound the way we wanted the event to have happened, and no one is competent enough to argue the fine points.

As anyone who has read my blogs know, I love dogs. They have been a part of my life from my earliest memories. I would like two share two quotes on dogs that really resonated with me. The famous outdoor writer, Gene Hill said,“As long as man lives, his dogs live in one form or another in a story or a song.” I really like this quote by a person named Mordecia Siegel who said, “Acquiring a dog may be the only opportunity a human ever has to choose a relative.” Since I have relatives who read this blog, I am going to opt for discretion, and not add a thing to that profound statement.

Everyone at Riverview joins me in wishing you and your families a blessed happy and healthy New Year!