I have resolved to reduce.

I have become bulimic. I've been purging the past few days and hope to continue it throughout 2008.

I started with the easy stuff. You may have noticed that this week I deleted 155 posts, which represented everything I had written since July when I started this blog. Since I am not nostalgic in a wishful, yearning sort of way, I wiped away the slate of old thoughts and I'm on to the new. Let''s face it - who is really going to go back and read all those posts anyway?

I've also gone through a couple photo albums, giving some pictures to relatives and tossing out pics of childhood neighbors I haven't seen in 50 years and can barely remember their names. Also tossed are those family Christmas pictures which people that I barely knew sent me with their cards. For years I felt so guilty about throwing out any one's picture that my collection of stranger families had out-grown a drawer. So now they are in the trash along with the wilted lettuce. I did feel guilty for a while, but after I purged - well, you know how much better you feel after a good hurl.

I live in a very large old home. It's probably going to take me all year to get rid of the excess. By this time next year, hopefully the purging will be done and I may then rid myself of the house itself. I need no other resolutions this year. I'll be too busy slimming down.