Resolutions are tricky. Some folks dig ’em, some can do without. Then sometimes you go to a closing bounce house and your world is changed.
I don’t do resolutions.
They’re great, don’t get me wrong. I mean, in the back of my head there are always the thoughts of trying to write more, swear less or have a salad every now and then. December 31 is as good a time as any to draw a line in the sand, but my personal improvements rarely follow the calendar year. 2018 may be different.
I’ve tried to live by Jack London’s mantra for years:
I would rather be ashes than dust!
That my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.
It turns out my eight-year-old daughter may be just as wise. And more concise.
A little backstory.
Our family and a few friends visited LeBounce on Friday before they unplugged the fans and closed their inflatable doors for the last time. My kids were bummed when we gave them the news that their bouncy haven would be no more. There was the expected weeping and gnashing of teeth.
But then Friday happened. We rolled into the parking lot at 7:00 pm and began the process of suiting up to face the frigid wind outside. Before the sliding doors of the van (yes, I drive a Town & Country and it is the bomb dot com) opened I looked back and saw an unexpected look of determination in my eight-year-old daughter’s eyes. London would have beamed.
Her face set in a firmness of purpose, she spoke nine words that are shaping my New Year: “I’m ’bout to have the time of my life.”
Olivia FTW.
It wasn’t a joke or quote from whatever horrible Youtuber she is into this week. It was an announcement. A declaration. She wasn’t dreading a world without LeBounce. She committed to making the next two hours the best bouncy experience possible. See, Olivia is timid about most things. She worries over math tests and speaking in public. But not this night. No, no. She was running in with reckless abandon.
And that’s how I’m entering 2018.
Jumping like no one is watching. Bouncing like there’s no tomorrow. I’m ’bout to have the time of my life. Coming with?
