Want to change your life? Do that

So many well-intentioned resolutions are made as a new year dawns. I’ve in the past chosen a single word as a guide post for the coming year. After seeing this sentiment a few days ago I realized it’s really quite simple to make a big change,; two words, to be precise.

You know that thing you need to do, that’s been weighing you down, nagging you, calling to you but you keep ignoring it ... putting it off?

Do that.

The snowy weather in recent days created a beautiful landscape in our towns. As I turned onto my street towards home late one afternoon I stopped to take a photo through the windshield. We’ve lived on this street and in this house for 35 years. No matter the season, the familiarity of this street where so much of our life has been lived is like a welcoming hug.

Our daughters launched out into the world from this place and after decades still have some of their treasures in boxes and closets. Our grandsons, the youngest of whom is now 18, have only known this house as Grandma Kerri and Grandpa Bert’s. It’s familiar. It’s an emotional generational continuity that’s more reminiscent of an earlier era.

While there will come a time when we downsize from yard work and all of the maintenance, perhaps hit the road or head to sunny climes, this will always feel like home.

I was asked recently why we chose Post Falls to make our home in 1985. Simple answer. We’d spent several years in Bert’s hometown, which is a small town in North Dakota, population about 500. There was a single school with buildings for elementary school through high school. The students shared a gymnasium and lunch room.

So when we were moving back to Idaho with daughters in elementary, middle and high school the smaller town of Post Falls made more sense than Coeur d’Alene for their integration to school in a new place. Post Falls was about 5,000 people in the mid-80s. It was a good decision.

I realized that we’ve been empty nesting since the 1990s and yet we continue to choose Post Falls to make our lives. Throughout the changes and many more people through the years choosing Post Falls to make their lives, it’s a great place to live.

We’ve always been engaged in the community. It not enough to choose a community to live in without making an effort to ensure that it continues to be a place you want to live. For everyone who’s chosen any of our local communities, reach out and get involved.

If you’re new/er to Post Falls ... welcome. There are so many organizations and events where you can engage, volunteer and get to know people who’ve chosen Post Falls, too.

Happy Main Street birthdays today to Marty Hayes, Jamie Lynn Morgan, Sherri Patton, Phil Eager, Thad Bolek, Timothy Barrett, Andrew Hansen, Dirk Darrow, Rick Gunther, Shaina Nomee and Debbie Raeon. Tomorrow Colton Peugh, Bobby Wilhelm, Gary (GA) Allen, Kris Cederburg, Kim Dennison, Griffin McAndrew, Christina Sedgwick, Will Moore, Robert Green, Dale Kreager, Judi Caceres and Kellie McCracken will celebrate. Friday Katie Marmon, Dale Kreager and Sydne Watson will make a wish. Jerry Sparling, Donna Trueblood, Sandy Wendell, Fondra McGee, Marc Kroetch and Rebecca Mort add another candle to their cake on Saturday. Carrie Miller, Dan Ryan, Pat Mitchell, Jim Magnuson, Avery Hunt, Jennifer King, Esther Webb, Robert Coles and Cathy Evien blow out the candles on Sunday. On Monday Mary Jane Hahn, Nathan Johnson, Katrina Jaeger, Jan Harris, Tom Iverson, Paul Matthews and Ronan Kennedy (13!) will put on their party hats. Kathy Kress White, Chris Hansen, Luke Gonzales, Tim Elder, Cora Cole, Amy Morfitt, Ivan Bosanko and Nathan Johnson dance the birthday jig on January 11.

Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.