In a few hours, 2018 will bite the dust. It’s been a difficult year for my family and me, so it won’t be a sorry departure.

With 2019 about to make its debut, I’m looking forward to fresh starts, better days, and new resolves. Yup—with 2018 still taking its final bows, I’m already engaging in “R” activity.

“You Say You Want a Resolution…”

…w-e-e-ll-ll, you know…that new year’s resolutions usually last about as long as a Beatles song.

But we make them anyway. Are we fools? Diehard optimists? Masochists?

The Japanese have a proverb: Fall seven times, stand up eight. I think they’re on to something. Failure isn’t failure if one keeps on trying. And attempting to be better or do better is never an empty exercise.

So I say we all stand up (figuratively speaking) and make a resolution or two—or five. We can make some of the same ones we made last year—no judgment. Let’s give them another go, ignore the pundits who claim resolutions are a waste of time, and work on developing the discipline and determination to keep them.

I won’t bore you with all my resolutions for 2019, but among them is to post every month on this blog. One of my regrets this past year is that I haven’t posted as often as I intended when I first launched the blog. In 2018, places went unvisited, events unattended, stories unwritten. But there’s a bunch of good stuff I plan to write about in 2019, so I hope you’ll stick around.

In the meantime, I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year! And may your 2019 be merry and bright!