{"id":1317241,"date":"2019-12-12T22:44:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T05:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/mulhall-column-jelly-of-the-month\/"},"modified":"2019-12-12T22:44:00","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T05:44:00","slug":"mulhall-column-jelly-of-the-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/mulhall-column-jelly-of-the-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Mulhall column: Jelly of the month"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It\u2019s that time of year again. You know, winter solstice, the season of perpetual hope, out with the old, in with the new\u2026 All that sort of thing.<\/p>\n

Yes, next Saturday the days will start getting longer, and before you know it, whether you mark spring renewal by March madness, Mothers\u2019 Day caddis, or something else altogether, we\u2019ll soon find ourselves well into another journey around the sun, or something like that.<\/p>\n

But while we\u2019re all here in December, one seasonal observation that comes with age, once you get past the struggle to rekindle that old Yuletide magic, is that while in life there are no do-overs, it\u2019s never too late for improvement.<\/p>\n

When memories outnumber future prospects, do-overs, to the extent they\u2019re even possible, seem a whole lot less useful than just getting a few things right.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s always been this way. Age seats you just a little closer to life\u2019s elephant in the room each Holiday season. Some figure out that get-it-right-the-first-time axiom early. If like me you\u2019re a C student about such things, it all remains a work in progress.<\/p>\n

This reality tends to sneak up on you, too. When you\u2019re young, there are all kinds of chances to get it right, however you define that. Next thing you know, maybe you\u2019re sitting with your family, scrolling through the movie listings for this season\u2019s Cousin Eddie fix, when you realize Christmas Vacation\u2019s thirty freaking years old.<\/p>\n

Holy hashtag boomer batman.<\/p>\n

Of course, there\u2019s more to this time of the year than hearing Chevy Chase utter that classic one-liner, \u201cIf I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn\u2019t be more surprised than I am now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither is Christmas some kind of obligation to cure cancer, though that\u2019d sure be nice.<\/p>\n

For me, Christmas is something a whole lot closer to the former than the latter, and not just because I\u2019m a John Hughes fan. Rather, I find simple things are just easier to work out, and I\u2019m pretty sure it\u2019s that way for everybody.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s no criticism, either. To the contrary, what one man dismisses is another guy\u2019s high water mark \u2014 a bit like Clark Griswold and Cousin Eddie.<\/p>\n

No matter who you are, a change for the better, no matter how slight, can lead to good things, as hard as that is to see sometimes.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t know where to start?<\/p>\n

Pick something obvious, something you know you shouldn\u2019t do but just haven\u2019t got around to yet. Maybe quit draining your RV\u2019s black water into the storm sewer. Then watch what happens.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s doubtful your neighbor will suddenly start talking to you, but maybe in time he\u2019ll wave cautiously when he drives by.<\/p>\n

With this subtle shift under your belt, maybe you\u2019ll see that change isn\u2019t really all that difficult. No big deal. That\u2019s the perfect time to try something a bit more ambitious, like maybe changing your pants after your wife runs the microwave.<\/p>\n

This not only makes life rosier on the home front, it makes a huge difference at work, too.<\/p>\n

Conference calls will drop off precipitously, almost in direct proportion to meeting requests, so you\u2019ll actually get to see the people you work with.<\/p>\n

Not all developments will come with advantages, however. For example, grocery store aisles won\u2019t mysteriously clear as you roll your cart toward the frozen foods, so you\u2019ll need to allocate more shopping time.<\/p>\n

As you stick with it, though, one day you\u2019ll realize that what began as a small personal change has gradually snowballed into something better, and while you may not be quite ready to write a self-help book, there\u2019s nothing wrong with starting an outline.<\/p>\n

A willingness to help others is important, too.<\/p>\n

No, in life you don\u2019t get any do-overs, but you can always improve yourself.<\/p>\n

Like the jelly of the month, it\u2019s the gift that keeps on giving the whole year.<\/p>\n

Mitch Mulhall is a husband, father and longtime Roaring Fork Valley resident. His column appears monthly in the Post Independent and at postindependent.com<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s that time of year again. You know, winter solstice, the season of perpetual hope, out with the old, in with the new\u2026 All that sort of thing. Yes, next Saturday the days will start getting longer, and before you know it, whether you mark spring renewal by March madness, Mothers\u2019 Day caddis, or something […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1317241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 09:12:01","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1317241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317241\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1317241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1317241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1317241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}