Keeping Up With Resolutions

It was the morning of 1st Jan 2021.

“New year, new me.” I exhaled and said to myself but loud enough to be heard by Mr. Husband.

“I see, so what’s new this year?” He enquired.

“This year I have decided on three resolutions and I am going to follow them no matter what,” I claimed, spreading my yoga mat in the living room.

“Like every other year? Let’s see.”  Mr. Husband tittered.

“Yes, I will and you will see.” I started practicing Kapalabhati exhaling puffs of breaths. 

“By the way, what are your three resolutions?” He asked shifting from a sitting position to lying position on the couch.

I looked at him with derision, and stopped breathing. I mean I stopped Kapalabhati to answer his question. Maintaining my meditation pose, I replied, “One, I will not eat out. Two, I will eat only healthy food.”

“And?”

“What and?” I stretched and lay down in Bhujangasana.

“You said, you had three resolutions.” He reminded me.

“Oh yeah, third, I will read a lot.” I supposed and lay down flat getting into Shavasana. “By the way, do you have any resolutions this year?”

“Yeah, I decided one too. I will plan a nice romantic holiday for us this year.”

“Wow.” I mumbled and dozed off.

***

It was the 7th day of the year.

“Baby, why are you scrolling frantically on your phone since last thirty minutes.” 

“Nothing, just some online shopping. Unable to decide if I should get it.” I wavered.

“If you need it then take it. I don’t understand why there is so much dilemma all the time.” Mr. Husband shrugged waving his hands in the air.

“Hmm.” I looked at him then back to the phone, continued scrolling for a couple of minutes, tapped on a few buttons, locked the phone screen and then again looked back at him. I grinned from ear to ear. “Thank you for helping me out. I was really having a hard time deciding for last two days.”

“Oh Honey! You are welcome.” He sat next to me and we cuddled watching TV.

After some time, Mr. Husband caressed his tummy and said, “Whats for lunch?”

Before I could respond, the doorbell rang. He got up and went to open the door. I heard the door opening followed by faint mumbles. It suddenly struck me that it was my online order and I rushed towards the door.

“Hey. Thanks for the delivery.” I grabbed the parcel and pushed Mr. Husband inside.

“Enjoy your meal” said the delivery guy and fled.

I came inside and opened the box of chicken biryani. The aroma was so tempting, I could not help but dug out a spoonful of rice and shove it in my mouth. “Mhmmm.” I relished it while my eyes closed.

When I was about to take another morsel, I saw Mr. Husband standing in front of me, his hands on his hips. I raised my eyebrows gesturing him to speak up.

“I thought your resolution was ‘not to eat out’?” He questioned air quoting not to eat out.

“Yes, and I am not eating out.” I explained.

“What? You just ordered a chicken biryani from a restaurant breaking your resolution of not eating out.”

“Honey, my resolution was not to eat out. Right now, I ordered food and am eating inside the house. So, technically I am still not eating out.” I brushed him off.

“Oh! I see. And what about eating only healthy food?”

“Chicken has a lot of proteins. Rice has carbs and it provides energy. These things are vital nutrients for good health. So, technically this is ‘heathy food’.” This time I air quoted heathy food.

Mr. Husband scoffed and raised his hands in fret but smiled and sat on the chair next to me. We both munched on the scrumptious meal. “Thank God, today I don’t have to gobble on those yucky salads made of so-called organic and exotic veggies.” He commented.

I simply smiled as I was unable to retort while chewing on the mouthful of chicken pieces.

“By the way, how is your third resolution going on?”

I don’t understand his problem. Instead of focussing on the yummy chicken biryani, he is quizzing me. Yet, I sipped some water and said, “Yeah, I am reading a lot these days.”

“Is it, I didn’t see you with any books?”

I felt interrogated but there was no way back. “I read on the phone.”

“Really! Did you get the Kindle app?”

“No, not on Kindle, another app.”

“Which is that?”

“WhatsApp.”

“What? What are you reading on WhatsApp?”

“A lot of WhatsApp messages. I don’t skip even a single message now, I read them all, even the long forwards.” I affirmed my commitment towards my resolutions.

Mr. Husband slapped his head and shook it in josh. I thought I should also check on his resolution. “So, how is the holiday planning going on?”

“Oh, I am so excited to tell you. I have planned a vacation to Australia.”

“Australia.” I was astonished.

“Yeah, I was planning Europe but then flights are banned due to that new strain of COVID. So, I narrowed down to Australia.”

“Wow, that is awesome. Whats the plan? How does the itinerary look like?” I dropped my spoon on the plate in anticipation of an exciting vacation.

“The plan drives like, first we will go to Melbourne, visit Fitzroy Garden, Parliament House, Federation Square, Melbourne Cricket Ground, then tour on the Phillip Island, drive on Great Ocean Road, wander in the beautiful towns of Lorne and Apollo Bay check out the amazing 12 Apostles. Then we will fly to Cairns, spend one full day on the Big Cat Green Island, tour to the Great Barrier Reef. After that, move ahead to Gold Coast, make way to Sea World, tour to Warner Bros Movie World. Then fly to Sydney, explore Sydney aquarium, ride to the Blue Mountains…” He paused to take a sip of water. “Then I have a surprise planned as well.”

“Surprise? What is it?” I demanded.

“If I tell, it won’t be a surprise.” He simpered.

“I won’t be able to handle the curiosity, pleasssse tell me now.” I pled.

“Ok. Ok. So, the surprise is. I will take you to the top of Sydney tower and…”

“And?” I raised my eyebrows looking for the next part.

“And…”

“And what?” I yelled with annoyance as he stretched on unfolding the surprise. “Are you going to throw me down from there.”

“No Honey, you are my life. I can never do that to you.” He smiled cheerily and pinched my left cheek. “I will be proposing you, with a diamond ring, on the Valentine’s day.”

“What? Really! Propose. Diamond Ring.” I was jumping in my seat with excitement.

“You like the plan?”

“Like it, I love it.” I clapped my hands but suddenly I realised and jabbered non-stop. “Wait. Did you say Valentine’s day? We only have a month to arrange everything. I have a lot of shopping to do. We have to start organising now. I will make the checklist. Have you booked the flights and hotel?”

“No.” He shrunk his nose.

“Why? We have to do it now or we won’t get good deals.” I stressed on now.

“That’s ok, I will plan for some other time then.” He coolly replied.

I was so vexed with the thought of the vacation getting cancelled. “What is this baby? It was your resolution to plan the vacation. How can you make resolutions that you can’t follow?”

“I followed my resolution. I said I will plan a vacation and technically I did.”

I gasped at him with wide open eyes.

He shook his head and continued chomping on the biryani. “What happened, Honey? Eat your ‘outside’ ‘healthy’ biryani ‘inside’. Or you need to finish ‘reading’ your WhatsApp messages before that. Come on. Follow your resolutions, ‘technically’.”