Dear 2010,

Yours is the year in which I turn forty and, truth be told, I'm not that excited about it.

Sure, my son can't remember if I'm currently 39 or 69, but I can understand that when you're almost six, anything past about 19 seems like the same age, where that age = old and unimaginable. And yet, while I've apparently been in that old and unimaginable realm for a while now, there is something that seems so horrifyingly middle-aged about forty. Forty. F.O.R.T.Y. (Hmmm... actually, if you write it enough times, it totally stops looking like a real word at all, so maybe that's what I should do.)

So let's make a deal, okay? Here's what I promise to try to do this year, if only you will help me ease into forty without too much panic:

* tell my children, every night as I tuck them in, something that they did that day that I loved seeing (I copied this one from my parenting guru, Anymommy)

* exercise regularly (apparently, with age comes wisdom, and I know better than to promise you or anyone else that I'll exercise 5 days per week; as long as it's regular, that will have to be sufficient)

* tidy something every day, even if just for five minutes right before bed, WITH the help of my children (we all need a little help forming better house-keeping habits around here)

* plan out a realistic timetable of reading for each month, so that I'm not running around like a chicken with my head cut off, reading everything in sight in a frenzy of speed (not that chickens without heads can read -- or chickens with them, either, for that matter -- or anyone running around can read, but you get the point; I have three conference papers to write in the next three months, on top of teaching my classes, so a little planning will go a long way)

* stick to the reading timetable (as anyone who loves making lists knows, sometimes the making of the plan substitutes for actually doing the thing, so this deserves its own bullet)

Overall, I hope in 2010, I will laugh more, have more patience, try some new foods, go on more dates with my husband, and try to remember every day that life is good and living in the now, even better.

For your part, 2010? Could you try to keep the grey hairs to a minimum?

Thanks,

MommyTime