I Got Love For You, If You Were Born In The Eighties...

So we are T minus 6 hours and counting from my birthday...

Twenty four years ago TODAY (the 13th) my mom went into labor. After an entire day I finally got here. I will get the phone call about that tomorrow night at 8:03PM (pacific time, every year since I have moved out)...

In retrospect, 23 was the most tumultuous year of my life.

-Work... At work I was promoted twice this past year, three times if we go back to the first of July, 2006. And through all of the hard work, long hours, and total bullshit, I still love my job. I just spent a half hour fitting ten cases of beer into my fridge. And only then because I had already filled the mini fridge in the garage with another four. And the weird thing is that it isn't for my birthday. Just because I thought I needed a bit more beer around the house. We were running right to the bare minimum, down to two cases. You can't even throw an impromptu party with two cases of beer.
What was I talking about? ... Oh yeah, work. The free beer part of work side tracked me.
So anyways, work managed to be my rock this year. There were some tremendous changes, but everyone of them for the better. Even if I bitch and complain, there is only good stuff to be said about being the beer man.

-Family... I lost my grandmother right before Christmas. That was tough on me. Even worse on my grandfather after 49 years of marriage. Then just last month, my mom had a real close call. I am so happy that she is OK now, and recovering at home. It's not instant, and it's going to be a long journey for her and my dad, but alive is the first step. I have no shame in admitting that I really am a "mommas boy." I still remember one of the few fights that I have been in (that wasn't in a hockey game). Kid cracked wise about my mom, and immediately had a hard time breathing afterwards (I was 14, and 5'11"/175lbs, but at that age the concept of someone being bigger than you really doesn't kick in).
Kicking ass aside, I am happy to have my mom still, and feel truly blessed. I can't wait for the
"guilt trip" tomorrow. I look forward to it every year.
There were no additions to the family this year. That's the first time that has happened in a long time (two babies and a wedding in the last three years, and that's just off the top of my head). I have my cousin's wedding in October. That's going to be a blast. Weddings are when my hick ass family gets together and shows their true colors. It's truly a sight to behold. I'll have to remember the camera for that one.

-Friends... Boy they stepped up big this last year. You can read about why below, but it's enough to say now that they are the real reason that I am who I am, and I thank God that I have them around. All of them (even the ones that I may fight with from time to time) would always be there for me the moment that I needed them. Four of them got engaged (that would be two pairs of friends, who were just in relationships at the start of the year), and I couldn't be happier. Plus excited to go to the weddings. One of them is going to be in The Bahamas, and Stormin is going to get his ass bitten by a shark while trying surfing. But at least I get to watch to friends get hitched in a fine white linen shirt and my nicest khaki shorts. Sandals in the sand is classic, I don't care how cliche it might have become.
The other we aren't quite sure about yet. Probably in Spokompton (Spokane is the ghetto). Hood wedding anyone? I am going to have pull out my best powder blue tux for that one. [Come on, I love you guys, you know that I would never upstage Mike at the wedding by dressing flashier :-)... ]

-Relationships... OK, so 23 was the worst, and best, year of my life when we start talking about relationships. I haven't posted a lot about it (or at all), but 23 kicked off with the end of a 6 year relationship that had all but defined my life. And it was a messy end...
But there was positives to be had in all of that. For over half a decade, I had not been on my own, and finally having the chance to be single again I learned that it is a very different world these days when you aren't in a relationship. It's definitely not a bad thing, and I can't say that I didn't have a whole lot of fun this past year.
Now I find myself at the edge of "willing to venture into a relationship," and it scares the hell out of me. For some reason I don't think that scared is a bad thing to be. That last one ending hurt like hell for a long time, and I'm in no hurry to be there again. But this new girl is more and more worth the risk every time it does cross my mind.

Wow, so that was pretty much 23...

New things:
-Not getting carded at bars. I'd say that it happens only a little bit, but it's still crazy.
-Healing in weeks rather than days (my knee still hurts from something three weeks ago).
-Yelling at people to "slow down" in my neighborhood.

(Neat, that last one makes me feel like I'm minutes away from an AARP card and catching the early bird special at breakfast with Ethel and Phyllis.)

Only a few hours left. And then one year left to cheap ass car insurance! 366 days to Ferrari time! (Hey, getting older ain't so bad.)