When asked about their New Year’s resolutions are for 2016 two Tri-Citians chose a couple of the most common, losing weight and living a healthier life. Another wants to reconnect with family and friends.

Ted Vause,

“I want to spend more time with family and friends. We get wound up in work and life and forget to take time to slow down and appreciate what’s important in our lives,” said Ted Vause, a MetLife representative in Richland.

Vause said he seldom makes New Years resolutions because they usually don’t work. But he said he is going to put extra effort into this one in 2016.

Betty Sherman’s list of “to dos” for 2016 includes adopting a healthier lifestyle for herself.

The Richland woman suffered a heart attack two years ago and that changer her perspective.

“One is enough,” Sherman said. “My goal is to live to be 100 years old.”

Sherman said, laughing, that she bought a gravesite years ago from Einan’s, but has no plans to use it any time soon.

“I’m just too busy being on the board of directors for Senior Life Resources and working on the committee for the Richland fly-in,” she said.

Betty Sherman,

John Haakenson, director of airports and operations for the Port of Benton, chose a more traditional resolution — losing weight — but for a less common reason.

He’s sworn to lose 15 pounds in 2016.

“Maybe if I do so I’ll gain 120-pounds or so in a girlfriend,” he joked.

Haakenson, like Vause, said he doesn’t normally make New Year’s resolutions.

“It’s just something I don’t think about,” he said. “If I need to do something I generally just go ahead and do it and not wait until a certain time of year.”

Making New Years Eve resolutions is something Kelly Thompson, administrative assistant at the Port of Benton, swore off many decades ago.

“My dad told me when I was 10 or 11 years old to never make New Year’s resolutions. They just bring you bad luck, he said,” Thompson said. “And I’ve taught my kids to do the same thing.”

John Haakenson,

Even so, many look upon New Year’s Eve as a chance to start anew, a time of rebirth both habitwise and lifestylewise.

Some popular resolutions include getting to the gym more often or at least getting out and biking or even just walking.

Others volunteer time and expertise at a school, senior center or community center or with a nonprofit program like Meals On Wheels.

Buy a coffee, pick up the lunch tab or pay for a tank of gas for a stranger. Accept any thanks graciously and ask them to show appreciation by paying it forward.

And make 2016 the year to cross items off your bucket list.

Kelly Thompson,