New Years

What a bizarre year it's been. This time last year... little Eli was still cookin'. Now he's crawlin' around and tryin' to climb the stairs. Julie's mom and I weren't even on speaking terms... Now we're gettin' on pretty well. Joy had just made it back from Colombia... I didn't have any idea where we were moving to...

Well ok... so not everything has changed that much.

Ya know... we're actually boxing up things... packing. I talked to a mover to get a quote... and it wasn't until about 20 minutes into the conversation that it dawned on me that I had no idea where to tell her we're moving.

We've got to buy a house... a nicer house than we've ever had before... but we don't know where to shop for one.

I guess that really sums up 2005 for us... in spite of everything that's happened... Eli's arrival... dear friends married off... dear friends breeding yet again... family trials... family triumphs... it's been a year dominated by this huge question... this yet-unsolved mystery. It colors everything. Sometimes in the fore... always in the background.

But...

It's 8:37 on New Year's Eve. All of the questions of 2005 shall be answered in 2006. Indeed... everything Julie and I have fought for... since... God... since forever... it all pays off in 2006.

I hope you are all havin' a ball tonight. Tossing back some champagne with friends and loved ones. Spacebunny... did that raisin trick work? And I do mean all of you... Even you Waterboy... ya yankee bastard. And Jamie.... I know its been 2006 for 8 hours down there.. but raise on anyway mate... it's a good excuse right? I hope you've all enjoyed the blog as much as I've enjoyed having you here. So often bloggers write about how they don't care if they have readers or not. I do. I love havin' y'all around, and honestly, if ya weren't here I wouldn't do it. Thanks for bein' here y'all. I appreciate every damned one of you.

So... this one last night in 2005 I spend here in Morgantown... Not alone... but certainly by myself. One corona for now... one for midnight. The boys are tucked away.... Julie is pulling another 24-hour shift...

But if by chance she should get to read this tonight...

Darlin'... Here's to you kid... and here's to 2006...

The first year of the rest of our lives.