What We’re Looking Forward to This Year

Welcome. On the last day of last year, I asked what, if anything, you were looking forward to in 2022. Since then, I’ve been thinking of Anne Shirley’s optimistic query in “Anne of Green Gables”: “Marilla, isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?” When I read the Anne books as a child, I found this simple insight comforting, each new day laid out like a clean sheet of loose-leaf paper, all potential.

As an adult who has learned to worry, I seldom think of days to come as empty of content. Still, I come back to a persistent hope that although the year on which we’re embarking is certain to contain “mistakes,” perhaps there will be fewer than in the last two, and that our collective and individual experience will make correcting or recovering from them easier.

Here’s what some At Home and Away readers are looking forward to this year (responses edited for length and clarity):

• “I’m looking forward to playing in my first international basketball tournament, the FIMBA European Maxibasketball Championship in Málaga, Spain, at the young age of 71! I have been invited to play on Team U.S.A. and am truly honored to be given this special opportunity to play against the best 70-to-75-year-olds in the world! And to think that I almost gave up playing hoops when my old canvas Converse high-tops from high school wore out in 1972!” —Rus Rusbosin, Venice, Fla.

• “Instead of making a grand resolution, this year I will take it a month at a time. January will be 31 days of yoga, February will be writing every day, March will be vegan before 6 p.m. I have not thought beyond that, but I will take that as I go as well. Here is to health and small steps in 2022.” —Jenny Fan Raj, San Francisco

• “I am looking forward to retiring from 33 years of teaching public school, grades 2 to 12. I plan to get a basketball hoop and play; to read the definitive biography of every U.S. first lady (one a month); and to pursue hobbies I haven’t had time for, like collage, decoupage, sewing, bowling, kayaking and archery. I figure I can do most of those even if Covid continues (maybe not the bowling).” —Leslie McLean, Sonoma, Calif.

• “In 2022, I’m planning to read one chapter before sleeping every night.” —Wilson Martinez, Charlotte, N.C.

• “My only goal for the first quarter of 2022 is to clean out our basement before my daughter’s third birthday, in April. We want to get her a drum set, so I’m hoping to make space to set her up with a baby studio. She’s spent all of her time since she was 11 months old cloistered at home with only her parents and a disaffected cat. If she can’t get vaccinated in the first half of 2022, I want her to feel in control and free in some other way. I hope tearing it up on the drums and making music can be that for her.” —Sara Greene, King of Prussia, Pa.

• “As a fully vaccinated retiree who loves to travel, I am looking forward to the beautiful fields of lavender in Southern France in early July 2022. It is a tour I booked two years ago for the summer of 2021, foolishly believing that the pandemic would be conducive to international travel by that point. In my dreams, I see the shades of purple and take deep breaths inhaling the smells of the lavender. May it be so.” —Beverly D. Kerr, Morgantown, W.Va.

P.S.

• Last week, I shared Wikipedia Around, a website that asks for your location and then serves up Wikipedia articles about the area. I received an email from Jenna Xu of Oakland, Calif., who created a similar site as an “ode to lockdown.” Jenna’s project identifies nearby National Historic Landmarks and suggests routes for self-guided walking tours of the environs. (Her 2022 goal? “More projects like this.”)

• I was fascinated by “Girl Power Gets Sober,” by Katie Heaney in The Cut, about Tempest, an online sobriety coaching program for women.

• Have you been playing everyone’s favorite new game, Wordle? Of course you have, since At Home and Away readers got into Wordle back around Thanksgiving, long before it was cool.

• Here’s David Byrne and Yo La Tengo doing Yoko Ono’s “Who Has Seen the Wind?” The original was released in 1970 as the B-side to John Lennon’s “Instant Karma!”

Tell us.

Have your dreams been notable lately? Any themes or motifs emerging as we inch toward two years of contending with the pandemic? Write and tell us: [email protected]. Be sure to include your full name and location and we might include your contribution in an upcoming newsletter. We’re At Home and Away. We’ll read every letter sent. As always, more ideas for leading a full and cultured life appear below. I’ll be back on Friday.