Things Will Be Different This Year

If you have been a Dear Reader for a while and a careful Dear Reader, you know that I consider September as the beginning of a new year for me. No particular date and it takes all of September for me to get over the previous year and look forward to the next. So really maybe the end of September is the mark of the New Year for me.

And it is not just from me and my evaluation and decisions, often others willingly or not participate in my New Year. Things happen at this time of year, things change. Like the leaves. And it all adds up to a new out look for the Lanny Person and it happens in the fall, one reason I love fall, because I love change, I hug it with my whole being.

That said, listen up.

Next Year is going to be very different! Hugely different, knock my socks off different. And it all starts right away, it has already begun.

Last year was awful, it was the worst year I've had in a long time. I can't say the worst year ever 'cause I have lost both my parents, a ectopic pregnancy, a diagnosis of melanoma for Dirt, and other tragedies in previous years, last year wasn't that bad, but really stinking close.

Last year was empty, vacuous, dull, lifeless, dreary, sad, tasteless.

This year is going to be different, way different, last year's problem will be solved with the stroke of one weekend. A smile has crossed my face and peace is in my heart.

We have scheduled a clam digging weekend!

The tide is low and we have reserved a spot at Grayland Beach State Park. I will have fresh clams in my freezer. Clam chowder, clam fritters, clams, clams, clams! Everything will be right in my universe this year. Bring on the bad news, I'll hurdle it in one flick, I will have clams!

Oh and the other thing that clinches that this year is going to be the best year ever.... Salmon has officially replace Lutefisk at Leif Erikkson celebration this weekend. I did my bit. I ate the stuff for years, not large amounts, but I ate it. I encouraged my children to eat it and I offered it to others. I did my part. And I have a minuscule amount of Danish in my blood, wrong Scandinavian country and not enough to make my body tolerant of such things. But now, after being a team player, after having my kitchen smell odd from mid-October till the end of January, (the microwave would smell odd till March) I am freed.

Once again this proves contentment. Just when it looks like you are doomed to a life one way, and you settle in, you decide to become content, truly content and you stop struggling, then you can be released. And I am released from Lutefisk served in October. I went to three fish stores and even called up to Poulsbo to see if they had some. But all of them said they will not be getting it in until the end of November. Even the fish store that has faithfully supplied our last few Leif Erikkson Days will not be getting it in. There is nothing I could do short of overnight express from... Minnesota perhaps.

But Dirt has conceded, he quickly granted that salmon would be an okay substitute for the Lutefisk. Yahoo. Now my cold can go away, I don't need it anymore. I can breath deep and smell all the wonderful cooking smells that my kitchen can possibly muster on Sunday!