A Year for Me

When I first retired, I stumbled across The Gift of a Year: How to Give Yourself the Most Meaningful Pleasurable Satisfying Year of Your Life by Mira Kirshenbaum. When I finished reading it, I set my goal for the next year to get the house organized after thirty years of working, raising children, and everything else that comes with a woman’s adult life. At first, it seemed impossible to consider clearing every closet, drawer, and shelf. But, after I slept for the better part of six months, I did begin to get thing under control. It took almost two years to complete, but, by the end of that time, the house was cleared of much of its clutter, repairs had been made, walls and floors were renewed, and our family could fully enjoy every space in the house. We were even confident enough to consider adding an addition to the house with the help of a contractor friend.

What we didn’t see coming was a new, old house. We stumbled across an empty foreclosure with two wooded acres in an area where we never even considered living. It needed to be stripped to the studs to begin the work to bring the house back to a state where it could be lived in. On our first visit, we laughed all the way through, saying, “Not us, not us!” But, somehow, we managed to find ourselves back inside with our good contractor friend whose specialty just happened to be bringing disastrous messes of houses back to life. After that visit, we saw it only as the retirement house of our dreams, designed and built to make the rest of our lives better.

Now, a year and a half after moving in, I realize how much our lives have improved and how this has become a new family home for our children, for my sister and her children, even for my mother who will move into a retirement center nearby next year. In this short time, we’ve had more family members visit than we have ever had in thirty-five years of marriage. We’ve used our dining room table more often than we have in the last twenty years. We’ve had more diverse and more interesting collections of people drink a glass of wine on the screened porch, enjoy a fire in the living room, and always laugh around the kitchen counter than we’ve ever had in our lives. And, despite my arthritis and bad knees, I’ve discovered ways to make it enjoyable for me to entertain large parties, small groups of friends, or family as often as we like.

However, along the way, I’ve picked up more clutter by way of morbid obesity and related health problems. And so, I find myself needing a new year to rid my life of those things that keep it from being the most meaningful, pleasurable, and satisfying life that I realize it could be. Just like setting the goal of updating our last house or planning a complete rebuild of our new home, I’m surprised to find that I have already prepared for the job ahead of me. I’ve paid strict attention to all the concerns of my doctors over the last three years. I’ve followed through on every test and screening that they have ordered and researched the underlying issues. Despite diagnosis as a type 2 diabetic three years ago, I’ve discovered through the process that most of my health problems can be significantly improved or eliminated through changes in diet and exercise and awareness and attitude. And for the first time in over twenty years, I don’t feel doomed to failure with regard to managing my weight for myself. I feel energized and ready.

As I write, I look out at the first vegetable garden I’ve ever had and realize that it's a tangible sign of my choice to live better and to contribute to a healthier life for our family and friends. It has taken months of preparation, from finding and ordering growing boxes that allow me to work smarter to learning to reuse kitchen and yard waste as compost, but the green tomatoes that I see on the vine promise that it will be worth it.

The next year holds other promises for me, as well.