I have been reviewing the goals I wrote in October for this next year. I have taken several off and added some. One of the goals I removed was putting in a quarter-acre fishpond on our place and stocking it with largemouth bass. I have made this goal every year for the past 20 years, so I guess it is time to admit that it isn’t going to happen. It would be a fun goal to accomplish and to enjoy for years, but time and money have been barriers that have kept it from happening. I replaced it with fishing at Diamond Lake at least twice this next year. Now, that one will happen for sure.

Planning my life and setting goals reminds me of those robot vacuum cleaners. They take off across the room, vacuuming as they go until they hit something, and then reverse and go in a different direction. After going back and forth and around and around, they have covered the entire floor.

About a third of my goals don’t get accomplished every year, so I usually roll them over to the following year, but often, I chuck them. I chuck them because I have lost interest in accomplishing them or decide it isn’t possible with the years, money, and energy I have left.

There is a balance between being realistic and wimpy and giving up. I don’t quit on goals without a lot of thought about benefits, cost, and effort. One of the overriding issues in my goals is managing our income wisely and not going into debt, so many of my goals get shelved because of cost and our budget restrictions. More and more of our money goes into travel expenses to visit our kids and grandkids. Those goals make both Patty and me very happy.

We have a daughter, her husband, and three grandkids in Oahu, a daughter and husband and six grandkids in Fairbanks, Alaska, a daughter, husband, and three grandkids in Washington State, and a son, wife, and four grandkids in Idaho. The other four kids and families are close. Then there are birthdays for 28 grandkids, Christmas, extra groceries, and helping with emergencies and additional expenses they might have.

I don’t feel sad that some of my crazy goals get replaced by family goals; that is the reward for having eight kids.