|
With The New Year, Residents Make And Break Resolutions
By Keith Hagarty
The new year is a chance to reflect on where you've been, where you are and an opportunity to cast a wishful, optimistic eye on what's still to come.
With the champagne finished and holiday decorations boxed up for the next 11 months, most residents now begin that traditional annual self-searching trek to discover how to better themselves in 2007 via their new year's resolutions.
As the ball dropped in Times Square at this same time last year, saying goodbye to 2005 and welcoming in a new year, Don Gillecki, of Jackson, vividly recalls where he was and what he was doing.
"It was my first New Year being divorced, so I can't forget that one. I was out in Chicago, and had a blast. Trust me, as much fun as I had, I honestly can't believe I even remember even being there," the 48-year old Jackson resident said laughing. "But for some reason, I still do. For that, I'm thankful."
Gillecki was full of holiday cheer as he left the Spirits Unlimited liquor store on West County Line Road last week, pausing briefly to help lend some advice for anyone else thinking about ways to better themselves in the new year. The last year held several memories for Gillecki, but perhaps one of the most lasting impacts of 2006 was what he'd now like to leave in the past.
"Believe it or not, it's also around the first time I took up smoking again since I was in college," he said. "I hadn't touched a cigarette in maybe over 20 years, and here I am again at a pack a day. So I guess that should be my resolution- stop smoking."
Battling the temptation of gluttony is something that husband and wife Daniella and Oscar Rodriguez of Jackson can relate to, even if they view the post-holiday season in a slightly different light.
"Christmas is for eating everything that you're not supposed to touch too much the rest of the year," Oscar explained. "Every year it's the same thing for me, like I'll look in the mirror and wonder where that belly came from. But it's worth it, I love to eat: turkey, fried plantains, beer, of course, you name it … `tis the season, right?"
Getting her husband to get up off the couch for a little exercise is a chore in and of itself no matter what the calendar reads, according to Daniella, but it's an important initiative she plans on pursuing throughout the new year, not just for the short-term winter months.
"He fights me on it, but he knows it's good
for him to get up and go for a walk," she said. "I'm just waiting for some snow already because
at least I know he'll get some exercise with all the shoveling."
Oscar isn't as excited about the thought of possibly having to clear mountains of snow from his driveway.
"Yeah, she nags me about it, saying it's good for me and all, but I think she just gets tired of seeing my face in the house, and doesn't care if there's an inch or foot (of snow), she wants me out of the house," Oscar said chuckling to himself. "I guess my New Year's resolution should be to get some warmer hats and gloves."
Some resolutions tend to be fleeting, lasting about as long as it takes to make them, while others can go the distance, having life-altering benefits for years to come, but no matter what is wished for, most Jackson residents agree that a healthy and safe 2007 would be the best happy new year of all.
| 
