Happy New Year

(okay...I'm a day late!)

Let's see what I bring into 2009.

(BTW...I don't put much stock into the magical qualities of the turning of the page of a calendar signifying the change from one year...or millennium...to another.)

I bring a near total reliance on God.

I bring a renewed interest in what the Bible says.

I bring a renewed interest in discussing issues in the Marketplace of Ideas.

I bring a new sense of others around me and what I need to do for them.

I bring a new level of prayer in my life.

I bring a new appreciation for change.

I bring a better understanding of how messed up we can make ourselves and how, at 43, it's very hard to change.

I'm finding that change takes time. Something an ADHD'er has problems with.

I bring a better feel for the phrase, "Shit happens".

I understand that God allows "shit" to "happen" for His reason.

I also understand (and am learning to accept) that God doesn't have to tell me His reasons for the "shit" that "happens".

I remember I have something to say.

I've learned a better way to say it.

I don't sleep so well anymore and I miss it.

I don't like dreaming anymore and I'm sad.

I've accepted that I'm not going to weigh 185 ever again and that 200 is just fine...okay it's not...195 would be better but I really like ice cream!

I realize nobody really reads this blog so it's mainly therapy for me.

I realize I have a long way to go before I'll ever get back into the cockpit again. Unfortunately I run out of funds sometime between May and July. Sooo...

I realize I was a schmuck to forgo a college education...even an AA would be better than marking "some college" on job apps.

I am seeing my teenaged kids in a new light.

I realize that in a few years, that will go by very fast, my kids will be adults and out of the house.

I realize that when that happens, my wife will need me more than ever.

I bring a lot of the same baggage into 2009 that I brought into 2008, that I brought into 2007, that I brought into 2006, that I brought into...ad infiniteum...

So here's to 2009. May she be a damn sight better than 2008. And may the Lord stay his hand on us.

Eric