Delano Herald Journal

Serving the communities of Delano, Loretto, Montrose, MN, and the surrounding area

Denise Rosenau Column, 1/13/03



As the new year began to close in on us, the talk seemed
to move towards New Year’s resolutions again.

The column I wrote around this time last year was on New
Year’s resolutions, and the fact that I don’t really make them. That hasn’t
changed much this year.

Instead, this year I decided to take it upon myself to
make fun resolutions for others. Call it cheap entertainment, if you will.

For my husband, I decided that his resolution will be to
cook more. When I shared his new resolution with him, without missing a
beat, he told me, “Well, you will lose weight for sure then.”
The joke is on me, I guess.

For my oldest son, I decided that he would like to settle
down and be less wild, so as to not annoy his parents as much. When I told
him this, he thought it was a great idea, but I have yet to see the change.

I guess that was no surprise to me, because I think I saw
the term “mellow nine-year-old” listed once as an oxy moron.

My littlest one decided (with help from me) that he was
going to start going to bed nicely. He blew it the very first night when
he kept poking his little head in our bedroom with requests for water.

My dad, bless his heart, is going to try to save more money
to increase our inheritance – the very same inheritance that he claims doesn’t
exist.

Up until his resolution, he has the nerve to think that
he should be able to go out for dinner occasionally, or on vacation.

He vehemently disagrees with this, and says that we will
each get about 32 cents, but my defense is that he can avoid all of this
by sticking around until we can win the lottery.

(Oh, that reminds me that my husband has another new resolution
– to buy a lottery ticket each week until we win. Should only take a week
or two, I hope.)

My father-in-law’s resolution is to behave and rest his
broken hand so that it can heal. His cast is already falling apart because
he won’t hold still long enough for it to do any good.

He hasn’t heard this resolution yet, but he will, and I’m
sure he will roll his eyes at me. But, a resolution is a resolution, and
I can’t have him breaking (pardon the pun) it right away.

My co-workers haven’t heard their resolution either, but
as we go through the proofing process, I’m sure they will have something
to say about the fact that they are all going to take turns buying me lunch
until next year.

This will be much easier when we all spend more time together,
congregating in one building part of the time. And the company has grown
enough to make the financial hardship easier on everyone.

Oh, and there will be no more vacations or time off for
any of them, because my work load is already heavy enough.

My mom, mother-in-law, and stepmom all share the same New
Year’s resolution this year – they are going to argue each week to determine
who gets the privilege of taking care of my children on the weekends.

We’ll see how this goes, but I do expect to take it upon
myself to remind them of their resolution.

My brother is going to just be nice to me. Unfortunately,
this is really a stretch, and I don’t know if there will be retaliations
to worry about, but it has to be done.

His daughter has graciously volunteered to help keep him
in line. Even at the age of five, I’m convinced that she will do a great
job. No one can get to her daddy’s heart like she can.

And lastly, only due to space constraints, my sister Michelle,
who is a missionary in Thailand right now – she is going to do a much better
job with writing e-mails to me.

She does all right now, but I expect them daily from now
on. She must also understand that since I am carrying on life-as-usual here
in Minnesota and she is out messing around in third-world countries, helping
take care of orphans and putting her life on the line, she can’t expect
me to write back too often.

I’m fully expecting everyone to keep their resolutions.
I can’t imagine that there will be any problems. I’ll keep you posted, but
if I quit writing for a while, send out the search teams, because I might
have a hit on my head after this one.

An Irish friendship wish

May there always be work for your hands to do;

May your purse always hold a coin or two;

May the sun always shine on your windowpane;

May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain;

May the hand of a friend always be near you;

May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

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