Lying in the dark with my husband, after a quiet New Year's Eve at home, I ask him if he has made any New Year's resolutions.
"No," he replies sleepily. "You know I don't do that kind of thing. Besides, I like my life."
He knows I generally don't make resolutions either. And when I do, I don't keep them anyway. My silence, however, prompts him to follow up. "Did you make any resolutions?" he asks.
Now is the time to tell him about the plan I've been kicking around. "Um...I have decided that maybe I'll try a new resolution every month."
"Like what?" he asks. I can hear trepidation in his voice.
"I like my life too," I tell him truthfully. "But I thought it would be interesting -- fun even -- to try something new every month. I mean, I'm 45, and I am who I am. But maybe I can make some small changes that will add to my life, or to our life. I don't know what will happen, or what changes we'll like. I'll just try something new each month and see what sticks."
This time, my husband is silent.
I continue. "I'll base it on a different book every month, or maybe on a course I'll take. Like for January, I'm going to try out the advice in a Martha Stewart housekeeping book I ordered from Amazon."
"Martha Stewart! You don't even like her." My husband, fully awake now, hones his argument. "Her style is nothing like ours. She's an ice queen, or at least that's how she presents herself. And she's a felon. A convicted felon."
"Well the whole idea is to try something new each month -- something I might not ordinarily do," I tell him. "Other months, I'll try things like expanding my vocabulary, or dog dancing. Or trying to figure out how electricity works. It doesn't really come just from the wall, you know. And I'll keep a diary of it all, to help keep track of what works."
"Dog dancing?" my husband repeats.
"Besides, I'll be focusing on Martha's housekeeping advice, not her questionable investment techniques."
"I'm not going to like this, am I?" my husband asks. He sounds suddenly like a scared four-year-old.
"Happy New Year, sweetheart," I reply.
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