Blogging Resolution: Aspiration 2023

For the past several years, I’ve successfully held my resolutions through April or October, depending on the resolve with which I’ve held them. The one that I never quite seem to manage is my vague wish to consistently blog. If wishes were horses, or, if wish synonyms aligned with dressage movement scores, here’s what I imagine they’d be:

Here are the actual USEF Dressage Movement Scores, the image of which is also a link, because I'm totally computer savvy and not at all inept:

Invoice every month on time? Vow. Pretty Important. Eat more vegetables? Aspiration. My body seems to function just fine with my monthly veggie craving, thank you very much.

Now that I’ve written them out, I far prefer my version for dressage scores five down to zero. They’re so much more optimistic. That time Lou farted and spun every time the intercom crackled at Saratoga, we weren’t “Fairly Bad,” we just showed an Aspiration to do that movement.

When Fiona bucked off my seven year old as they headed up center line at Wine Country, there was No Desire Shown. “Not Performed” isn’t accurate, since it certainly WAS a performance. (Pic by Lydia Anne Photography)

My son Arlo has a habit of awakening me forty minutes before my alarm is due to go off. Today, on January 4, I realized this was prime blog writing opportunity. It means a few things that I think work to my ‘vague wishes’ favor: I can’t stew over the content and edit like crazy to provide an imaginary audience with a finely polished piece. I can write uninterrupted (until Arlo’s Spidey-Senses realize I’m accomplishing something and he insists on getting out of bed ). Lastly, I will be awake enough when it is time for the kids to get up that I won't act like I complete begrudge their existence, which is probably better for everyone’s mental health.

Feel free, dear imaginary audience, to ask for specific topics related to anything you deem Beth-tastic, whether it be related to horsemanship, training horses, teaching riding, eventing, dressage, hunters, jumpers, IEA, or Pony Club, or whether it be related to children, parenting, wife-ing, living on a small farm, mental health, Waldorf/Steiner Schools, Western New York, traveling with said children, the Suzuki method, sobriety, slovenliness being close to godliness, nature journaling, being a beginner artist at 40, being any age leading up to 40… the list of what jumps to my mind is random and seemingly endless. If you ask and I don’t know the answer, I will speculate upon it, make it a topic of conversation with friends I deem more worthy of answering than I, and get back to you. In the meantime, best of luck with your Resolutions and Aspirations, whatever they may be.