RT has his own small airplane, and today we put it to good use. I wanted to go visit my mother in Georgia, but it’s a three and a half hour drive. I had bought her a wireless laptop computer for Christmas, but it didn’t arrive in time for Christmas. Of course, it arrived the very day AFTER I got back home from my trip to visit my mother a few days after Christmas. So another trip was in order. I wanted to drive down and then come back today. I couldn’t stay but a little while because I have a couple appointments for tomorrow that I can’t miss.

RT said he’d fly me there. It had been over a month since he’s flown the plane, and it needed to be flown. So around 12:30, RT and I took off in his airplane - landed in my mother’s town an hour later. My sister, Debi, and her son, Jonathan, picked us up and drove us to my mother’s. Jonathan - a sophomore in college who is very adept with the inner workings of a computer and who had promised to set up the wireless connection for Mother - started working on getting the laptop and printer set up. RT and I, Debi and my mother visited for about 45 minutes. Then, we asked Debi to drive us back to the airport. First, though, I had RT snap a photo of me with Debi and Mother.

Carol, Ruth, Debi

We landed back in Nashville at 4:00. In the time it would have taken me to drive to my mother’s house (three and a half hours) we flew there, visited and flew back home.

Ahhhhhh. Very nice.

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Here it is, almost 9:30 P.M. on January 1, 2009, and I have not even THOUGHT of New Year’s Resolutions until about ten minutes ago when I saw an online story about them. Wow! Talk about how life changes! Every other year of my life - at least since I was old enough to know the difference between January 1st and July 1st - I’ve had at least one list of New Year’s Resolutions written out by this time on January 1st.

So what are my resolutions? There’s really only one: To get through this first year of little Lily’s chemotherapy for leukemia with our family and relationships intact and to provide her with as much support and love as I possibly can. At the end of 2009, we will not even be half way through this journey.

This is my favorite arrangement of two beautiful songs. It’s by Israel Kamakawiwo Ole. This just seems appropriate for today, January 1, 2009. This is an arrangement that had to grow on me. Since it is so different from what I was accustomed to, I wasn’t sure I liked it at first. However, after awhile, it became my favorite version -even when it doesn’t make much sense since he mixes up the words. It has a happy, carefree lilt to it. What do you think?

Lily is losing a lot of her hair. Right now she still has enough hair that it isn’t immediately noticeable. Larisa says that each morning, there are handfuls of hair on Lily’s pillow. Sitting beside her on the sofa yesterday, I saw lots of hair left where she had rested her head. Next week she will either start arm 1 or arm 3 of the clinical trial. If she is placed in arm 1, she will lose the rest of her hair in a month or two. If she is placed in arm 3, she will lose the rest of it immediately.

I told her the other day that if it would make her feel bretter, I woud shave my head and be bald with her. She looked at me like I was crazy - as though to say, “Why on earth would you shave your head and be bald if you don’t have to?”

Later I started thinking. Would I really have the nerve to voluntarily go bald - and not cover it with a wig? It’s an interesting thing to think about. It’s quite easy to SAY you’d shave your head. It’s quite another thing to actually DO it, and then conduct your everyday life with absolutely no hair - working, teaching, shopping.

Of course I know beyond a shadow of a doubt if I believed that it would make Lily feel even a tiny bit better for me to shave my head, I would do it in a heartbeat. I don’t believe it matters to her, though. Maybe I’m wrong. The topic sure has me thinking, though.

For the past two years I have written about what I make for a New Year’s Day meal. I don’t plan on cooking the meal this year. Somehow, with all that’s going on with Lily, I just don’t have the drive to do a bunch of cooking today. It will mostly be a day to get caught up on some housework.

However, the meal IS delicious - and fun to do. The meal is filled with tradition and symbolism. I thought I would re-print that menu and description of symbolism here. Enjoy!

Here’s the menu, the recipes and the symbolism - some serious and some definitely tongue-in-cheek:

Hoppin’ John

1 can mild tomato/jalopena mixture (RoTel) If you like things a little spicier, use regular RoTel.
2 cans black-eyed peas
1 can diced tomatoes (optional - I love tomatoes)
1/2 lb link of turkey sausage

Cut the turkey sausage into bite-size pieces - dump everything together and cook. You can serve this over rice or mix some rice in it, or eat it by itself with no rice. It’s delicious riceless or not.

Tossed Salad

Lots of lettuce, sliced tomatoes, grated carrots, diced bell peppers with grated cheddar cheese on top.

Cornbread Sticks

2 cups cornmeal MIX
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg, well-beaten
buttermilk (enough to make a good batter)

Pour into cast iron cornstick pans that have been sprayed with Pam and pre-heated in a 425 oven. The batter should sizzle when you pour it into the pans. Bake until golden brown. Serve hot. I like to crumble a cornstick or two into my hoppin’ john.

Sweet Iced Tea

4 family-size tea bags
1 gallon distilled water (You don’t HAVE to use distilled water, but that’s what I always use).
1 cup Splenda

Put the tea bags in a 4-cup measuring cup, fill with some of the water and microwave on high for about 6 minutes. Let it sit (steep) for about 5 minutes. Pour into a pitcher and add the remaining water to make one gallon. Add the Splenda and stir. DELICIOUS and refreshing!

The blackeyed peas in the Hoppin’ John symbolize coins - a sign of prosperity for the new year. May there be lots of that in 2009. The turkey sausage symbolizes my American heritage - the wild turkeys from the first Thanksgiving. For me, it also reminds me of the land where RT and I live - dozens of wild turkeys reside here. The tomatoes and jalopenas symbolize good taste and spiciness. May I never grow too old to be spicy.

The leaves of lettuce in the salad are a symbol of folding money - currency. Again, may there be lots of that in 2009. The tomatoes remind me of the fruits of summer, the carrots for year-round bounty, and the cheese for the perfection of aging (I wish!).

The corn in the cornsticks is another symbol of my American heritage. Enough corn for good health (and we want to eat LOTS of corn this year!), enough oil to smooth out the rough places in life, an egg to remind me of the newness of life, and the buttermilk to remind me that the sour places in life make the good places all the more sweet. Baking the cornsticks in cast-iron pans reminds me of what the American pioneers used in their travels cross country to explore new lands.

The iced tea is symbolic of my Southern roots. Sweet iced tea is pure Southern! The Splenda makes it something I can drink without worrying about calories. RT and I go through a gallon of this tea about every two or three days. I make several gallons every single week. I have to admit that I almost always used decaf tea so I can drink it in the evenings without worrying about it affecting my sleep.

There you have it! A New Year’s day feast with some traditional and some Carol-grown symbolism attached.