Happy New Year! No Resolutions for Me.

Melinda Palacio

I sat down to write my New Year's resolutions but came up blank until I realized that my life is a work-in-progress, never finished. Perhaps, the masterpiece that is I will not be complete until someone, maybe my godson, puts the last rose on my coffin or virtual memorial stone. Not that I am a morbid person, just realizing that my time on this earth is finite. I plan on honoring this time by living in the joyous spirit of my mother, Blanca Estela. I was very depressed after her death, but at some point in the last decade, I chose to live. I'm grateful for family that I still have, especially my mother's mother who has a wicked sense of humor and makes me laugh every time we speak. Laughter has been a great healer throughout the years. And all my life apparently. My grandmother used to say that when I was a baby I was laughing in my crib with the angels. I still laugh in my sleep.

Most people's resolutions involve losing weight or getting in shape. Check. Last year, I fully recovered from my broken leg (and my year from hell, Adios 2014 and don't come back). Thanks to a new and improved spring in my step and ankle full of hardware, I am free to walk, run, jump, plank, and balance on one leg. The leg that broke, my right leg, continues to be my dominant leg. I am no longer crooked thanks to my wonderful yoga teachers. I still have a bit of a confidence issue that I continue to work on. When I approach a long flight of stairs, I take a breath before ascending or descending them. I am overly cautious about enjoying the outdoors and going hiking. I plan on overcoming my fear of falling next year, but this is something I've been working on since before I broke my leg. I've also taken a page from La Bloga's Gluten Free Chicano and tried out some gluten free recipes and have a adopted a low- carb diet so that I can have my cake and eat it too once in a while. So far, I've lost ten good pounds and counting. Adios extra stomach luggage. I'm glad I have a head start however since for me the process of shedding pounds is excruciating slow.

During most of my yoga meditations, there's usually a point in the class when the instructor reminds us to "let go of that which does not serve you." After two plus years of hearing Disney's Frozen, Let It Go, song, I've decided to let a facebook friend or two go. Since 2015 was the year of the fade away, I feel comfortable in unfriending people simply for being creepy or insincere in their friendship agenda. Adios creepy people. No explanations needed.

Last, but never least, is the most important business of writing. Yes, another work-in -progress. It's always satisfying to see books come to fruition. I plan on continuing work on two books and sure hope to finish them. Twice a month, I look forward to materializing a blog post for La Bloga. The time before a book belongs to the public is the sweetest. However, I am happy to announce that I see the three letter word approaching both manuscripts. And many of the poems for my bird book have been accepted and published by a variety of literary journals and websites, including the Academy of American Poets, The New Laurel Review, Rare Feathers: Poems on Birds & Art, Latina Authors andTheir Muses, The Mas Tequila Review #10, and three publications coming up in 2016, the new journal MockingHeart Review, the anthologies Coiled Serpent by Tia Chucha Press and Poetry of Resistance forthcoming from the University of Arizona.

 

Happy Day One of 2016! I'm looking forward to continuing my journey. Thank you for enjoying La Bloga, sharing our community, and supporting our literature. Join me in keeping bookstores and our culture alive through writing. Since I am in New Orleans for the New Year, later today I will eat black eyed peas, cabbage, and ham. My friend Crystal says the cabbage is for prosperity, the black eyed peas for good luck and the ham is to continue to look forward because a pig cannot turn its head to look back. Provecho and Cheers!