Greeting 2017 with a poem

Hello!
Welcome to 2017, fellow human.
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I'll be honest, this year is going to be a difficult one for me. So I’ve resolved to not make any resolutions this year. I just don’t have the gumption. But I also don’t want to collapse under the combined weight of daily setbacks and the constantly depressing dispatches from he-who-shall-not-be-named, AKA our evil orange overlord.

So instead, I’m going to focus on being a good human. I will try new things (like my first protest, the Women’s March on Madison), I will keep writing (I’ve been working on a new book and entered a short story challenge), and I will focus on the positives in my life, of which there are many.
 
But we all get bogged down from time to time. So, in the spirit of trying new things, here is a poem about my mindset for the new year. I hope you enjoy it.
 
Tiny Pleasures
Or, An Indulgence a Day Keeps Insanity at Bay
 
I wake to a chill grey dawn
And stub my toe stepping into the shower.
The kids are crabby and my coffee’s gone cold
But even worse is the glaring orange light on my dashboard
(check engine)
And worse yet is the work email that just came in
(please see me, ASAP)
And worse yet are my son’s harsh words that still ring in my ears
(you’re not a good mom today).
 
But instead of crumbling
I will eat a mouthful of dry Cheerios and fill the gaps between with ice cold milk,
And I will crack open a new book and relish its first lovely line,
And I will achieve the perfect pant-and-shoe combination,
And I will sit in the front window of a State Street bar and watch the world walk by,
And I will sing along with James Taylor as I take a long drive,
And I will give a friend the perfect reading recommendation,
And I will ask my mom to cook for me,
And I will write one really good sentence,
And I will take a long bath without interruption,
And I will make a silly joke that makes my husband laugh,
And I will cook something Asian and arrange it artfully on my cobalt blue plates,
And I will hug my toddler while he still has that squishy baby feel about him,
And I will listen to my kindergartener sound out vocabulary as he learns to read,
And I will teleport myself to Florida to eat stone crab claws alongside the ocean.
Because all these little moments make me deliciously, frivolously, goofy-grinningly happy.
 
And I will not call them guilty pleasures
Because I can’t
When I don’t feel guilty.
 
Maybe I will only manage one of these moments today.
But sometimes one is enough
To bolster my crumbling buttresses
Until I can start again, fresh
Tomorrow.

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