"For last year's words belong to last year's language. And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning."
T.S. Eliot
I chose to begin my year with the world's greatest buttermilk biscuits, my tried and true comfort food that makes any morning an event. And I served them on a plate I found carefully wrapped up and stored away in my great aunt's barn - a barn that she filled with boxes from her parents' house after they died...a house that was, itself, filled with their parents' and in-laws' belongings. Which is to say it's an old plate.
My great grandmother most likely bought it (and its 7 companions) in Germany at some point in the late 1800s. The complete lack of any dings or scratches whatsoever suggests to me that she kept these plates stored away because they were simply too pretty to use. This tendency to squirrel away life's fineries is a family trait that I appear to have inherited, because there those plates have sat, hidden away in the back of my own china cabinet, for more than 10 years.
And that makes me wonder how much of life I'm squirreling away for fear of scratches or dents, heartbreak or failure. How much of life have I captured prematurely in a jar before it could reach its natural conclusion? While the natural conclusion of a plate, I assume, would involve gravity and a loud crash, life doesn't always follow suit. And you won't know unless you try.
So that, my friends, is my resolution for this year. To pull myself out of the cabinet a little more often, see the world for its possibilities, take risks, and try. How about you?
So that, my friends, is my resolution for this year. To pull myself out of the cabinet a little more often, see the world for its possibilities, take risks, and try. How about you?
7 comments:
I'm with you. I don't really do resolutions, but I notice that as each year passes, I get a little more safe & staid & solid; I might be existing more than living. I think 2011 might be the year to change that.
Good luck to you in your resolution. I hope you take us all along for some of the ride. :)
Ooooo. I am the grateful inheritor of many such beauties and I finally decided about 10 years ago that they were made to be used and things that get used, get used up. I've lost some jewels, preserved some treasures, and perhaps ... added one or two heritable objects to someone else's cache.
Glad you're using all the beauties in your life.
Hugs
Geneen Roth has an essay about living as though the cup is already broken.
My new mantra also involves living life, for real this time. :) I'd like to stop saying "I can't" and just start doing things and finding a way to make them work. Happy New Year!
Oh, Clara, what a beautiful resolution - thank you for the inspiration!
My goals for 2011 is the perfect bisquit. I have very fond memories of my grandmother making bisquits from scratch and a neighbor doing the same with a handfull of this and a bit of that, but I am a complete failure. Any advise?
Beautifully said, la Clara. I look forward to reading about a year of adventures. xoxo
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