The First Half of 2015

How is my year shaping up so far? When 2015 rolled around, I decided that the only New Year’s resolution I’d make would be that I’d try to take life a little less seriously. I have a habit of becoming stressed out pretty easily, which may partially explain my high blood pressure. My husband and children are constantly telling me: “Chill out. Calm down. Relax.” And of course, all this does is only get me more upset. But I have been making a more concentrated effort to not get so stressed out about the unimportant things in life. I’ve decided to save it for real life emergencies like the house burning down. So far, I’m making pretty good progress. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m getting only slightly panicked when I have a bad hair day.

As far as my biggest achievements thus far for the year are concerned, I am proud to say that I have now been taking piano lessons for the last sixteen months. That’s not bad, considering that I just began taking piano lessons at the age of 58. It has been a lifelong dream which was finally realized. And I can honestly say that it has been everything that I had hoped and dreamed that it would be and more.

I love playing the piano. It makes me feel as though I’ve finally found that piece of myself that I’ve been missing all my life. I’ve always had a profound love of music and have always been able to express that love through singing. But now I can do the same thing when I play the piano, which brings me even greater joy.

I practice every day, sometimes twice or even three times a day. Most of the time I practice for at least an hour or even longer if my back will allow me to do so. I have problems with low back pain, so sometimes I am limited in the amount of time that I can sit at the piano. Even an hour is too long at times, which is when I will actually wear a back brace so that I can sit at the piano longer. This is how much I love to play. I am willing to suffer to be able to play the piano.

I know that I will never be a great pianist. I know that I’ll never get to the point where I’ll be able to be an accompanist at our church. But that doesn’t matter to me. I play for myself and if no one ever hears me play, I don’t really care. All that matters to me is that I am able to play.

My other accomplishment is that I have begun to go out and get some exercise, which I truly needed, and it came in a form that was totally unexpected but very enjoyable. I have become a pickleball player. Have you ever heard of pickleball? It’s a great game which is a combination of tennis, badminton, and ping-pong. It’s played with a paddle and a wiffle ball on a short court, which is great for me because it means you don’t have to run as far as you would if you were playing tennis, which I’ve tried before and did not succeed at doing.

I’ve been playing mostly with my three sisters and we play what we call a “friendly” game, meaning that if someone doesn’t get the serve right the first time, we allow a second, third, or even fourth serve. We’re just beginners, after all. And we’ve been having so much fun playing together. But I’ve decided that I’m going to join a local pickleball club which meets three mornings out of the week because I could use some coaching. Yes, that’s how much I love this new game! All I can say is: “Watch out, Sisters! Before the summer’s out, I’m going to be the best pickleball player ever!”

All in all, I think the first half of 2015 has gone pretty well for me. Granted, there have been bumps in the road with unexpected twists and turns, but I think I’ve navigated them okay so far.

Now if I could just get my sewing room cleaned out like I promised myself I would . . .