obligingly yours, 2008.

i like to make new years resolutions that are underwhelming and metaphorically glamorous.
for 2008:
1.) watch 'gone with the wind' in its entirety, in one sitting.
--i've never seen all of this movie. i always start it, because it seems to always be on tv on new year's day, but i always get so frustrated with that little jezebel-in-a-hoop-skirt scarlett o'hara that i just have to turn off the movie. rhett's no walk in the park, either.
2.) get a dog.
--this is a resolution left over from 2007 which i fully intended to accomplish in the last 2 months, but living circumstances beyond my control have forced me to push this one back. it will be done, though. rest assured that there is a dachshund in the near future.
3.) become proficient enough on violin to accompany 3-chord songs.
--easy enough. i'm always meaning to pick up the violin...it is, after all, the only instrument i ever truly wanted to learn to play. it's the instrument of my heartsong, i've decided.

and that's that.
of course, there are plenty of more serious goals and dreams. the little yearlings of hope that gallop their way into 2008. but, quite frankly, those are between me and Himself. but, i've been informed, 2008 is a year of some thing. and i await with fervor the end of my pauline exile. 3 years for him, 3 for me.

yesterday was one of those clandestined days that only happen in a place like this, with people like this. more than once i was fooled into thinking it was summertime. the air was rebellious, and the sunset was fiercely divine. it's hard to believe i'll be leaving the ocean. but i've a sneaking suspicion that the mountains hold something for me.

the last few years have been years of sustained waiting and hard-earned peace.
this year is a year of expectant hope.

you've come a long way, baby.