Amy Lu's View

NPR’s Marketplace Weekend show does a regular segment called “By the Numbers” (yes, I’m as surprised as you that I listen to it enough to know that) where they throw out a number so listeners can guess what it is. In that spirit, I give you the number 1,336.7. Is that:

1. how many glasses of wine I drank in 2017
2. how many bags of lettuce I ate in 2017
3. how many hours I spent at Target in 2017
4. how many miles I ran in 2017

Okay, on Marketplace they don’t actually give us a multiple choice, but I wanted to make this somewhat fair. Or maybe it’s not fair, as any of these choices feel plausible to me. The number 1,336.7 could also be how many dresses I bought, how many cat turds I scooped out of the litterbox, or how many times I screamed “Stop saying ‘going forward!” at the radio. (The answer is Number 4, just to be clear).

I’m usually prone to being obsessive about measuring things (probably one of the reasons I like running so much) and I’m especially in the measuring mood as it’s the beginning of a new year. I want to reflect a bit on the year we’ve just wrapped up as I start forming aspirations for 2018. But, to quote “Seasons of Love” from “Rent” (which I admit I’m not a super big fan of):

Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes.
Five hundred twenty five thousand moments so dear.
five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes.
How do you measure,
Measure a year?

In daylights?
In sunsets?
In midnights?
In cups of coffee?
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife?

In five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes.
How do you measure a year in a life?”

Unfortunately, or unfortunately, I can only know how many miles I ran in 2017 because that’s what my Garmin watch measured. I didn’t count cups of coffee, or cat turds, or hours of tv watched, or any  other markers of my life (although maybe Facebook, Google, or Alexa did…). I’m sure I’d be both bemused and horrified if I knew my actual stats of how I spend my time.

As one year turns into another, I’d like to go a little deeper than just recounting the “highlights” of 2017. Don’t get me wrong, I want to give those highlights their due and savor my achievements. I want to bask in my glory: 2017 was the year I ran my first marathon (Holy S*&t!), played seven Clusterflock shows, two Pigeons from Hell (reborn) shows, and was in five theater productions (one of which was award-winning).

But life is combination of those big, memorable, unique moments (first-time seeing a concert at Red Rocks) and the small, everyday, often repeated rituals (gazillionth time eating a soft poached egg for breakfast). Chad laughs at me for how obsessive I can be about my personal rituals (mostly related to eating) but I crave both the familiar and the new.

Looking back, and going forward (ARGH I can’t believe I just wrote that!!!) I want to pay attention to and appreciate what I’m experiencing…whether it’s a familiar comfort or an exciting new challenge. Luckily for me, many of my favorite things—wine, running, theater, Chad—can be both.