Happy New Year 2010

For all my preparedness, all my resolutions for the new year, all my lists, 2010 did creep up on me unexpectedly! Let me make myself clear. I know today is January 2nd 2010, I know the new year has begun but I don't feel it - the new beginning. This fact is bothering me a bit, just a tiny bit.
Maybe this recollection of the past year will help. Our family had a wonderful 365 days, the only problem being that it went by too fast. If this was a computer program, I'd loop it to the first sentence now ;-) What was big this year was that our daughter started middle school. That took a lot of mental adjustments, our baby going to the same school as the adult looking 8th graders! Well, it turns out she is doing just fine and lecturing me on worrying too much. So it turned out that the only adjustment required was to co-ordinate the schedules of 2 schools. Start-up ideas, anyone?

On the travel front, we toured England & Scotland in the summer - 15 days of great fun. We decided to drive in the U.K. My fun was doubled as I could sit in the passenger seat and remind Venka to drive on the wrong side of the road very frequently :-) Mihir stills remembers the round-a-bouts fondly. Apart from the driving, we enjoyed the castles, especially the ones in Scotland. Bath was quickly added to my list of favorite cities. London was different than my expectations but in a good way.
We visited the Joshua tree National Park in December. The namesake trees look like something out of Dr. Seuss's books! Very good place for the fertile imagination of my kids'. That and the boulders that are scattered around the NP have inspired my kids to draw (I need to make a trip to Michaels now). The spontaneous rock-climbing that we did in the JTNP was the highlight of our visit.

We did meet a lot of family & friends this year. Starting from visiting my cousin in London, attending Venka's aunt's birthday and just last week meeting my friend from college after 2 decades! A good year based only on this.

I do have a lot of resolutions for the year 2010, maybe that's the reason my mind is ignoring the fact that it is 2010 already. The one main goal is to focus on improving my perseverance. Doing small focused jobs but doing it frequently is the my theme for the year. Not being the first one to start, or finish something. Or even the speed - it is the "keep doing your stuff" philosophy that I want to adhere to this year. You all can help by supporting me, visit and comment on the blog frequently!

Hope this year is wonderful to you and your loved ones. Wish you all the joy, happiness and success.