Focus

I sat down after putting my kids to bed last night and tweeted: “I’m going to ring in the new year while playing a video game that came out in November 2009. #woopartay”

My husband went to bed, and I dragged my “partay” around Ferelden, doing side quests before the endgame. Even with headphones blasting sounds of frenzied melee into my ears, I could hear fireworks going off elsewhere in the neighborhood. I tugged them off and poked at my phone.

11:59.

I watched the screen until it turned off, then turned it back on, not wanting to miss the last moments of 2013. As the seconds ticked by, I mused about time. Why do we focus on the final seconds of things? We enjoy the beginning, ignore the middle, and by the time we get to the end, we realize how much time we don’t have and insist on treasuring up the last few drops to make up for what we wasted.

I don’t do resolutions. I’m not the kind of person who swears up and down that they’re finally going to get organized this year, or the one who promises themselves that they’re definitely going to lose 30 pounds. If I’m going to ignore my resolutions, I may as well not make any. Planning for the future is a good idea, but when we’re sitting around waiting for the future to get here so that things will be awesome, we’re missing out on the awesome stuff that’s happening now.

Like saving Queen Anora.

The clock on my phone changed to 12:00.

“Hm,” I thought. “It’s 2014.”

The sounds of fireworks intensified, and I put my headphones back on and went back to my game.