Change I Can Count On...

Okay, so I have an incomplete post I'm working on, and really want to finish, because it's a great story (well, to ME it is!) but I'm putting it on the backburner for the obligatory "This is what's gonna' be different in the new year" post. No, I'm not talking about 20 January; because this year is going to be really different.

Change - in this case it will be closer to a complete transformation - in life is inevitable. "No change is un-permanent; but change is". Thank you, Geddy.

First, someone is coming this summer to take my job. That's the benefit of my line of work; you know (to within a month or so) when you'll be moving on so you can plan your life around it. The big career-managing office in the sky has paired names with jobs, and in that list is a name next to my job, and I'm just waiting to hear who it is so I can get to managing when it happens. Set a date, make a schedule, show him everything, sign the paperwork, and bam! The show is his. That's the easy part.

The really big change for us is going the transition to MY next job, which will prove ... interesting. I'm pretty sure (I'll give it better than even money) it will involve a place that ends in "-raq" or "-istan", (an outside chance of Southeast Asia or the Horn of Africa), for a year. Setting up my family to get along without me for a year is my top priority for the next six months. Even if I don't go straight out of this job, I WILL go out of my next one. Just the nature of the beast.

So I guess I don't have resolutions so much as I have plans. Get the rest of our debt gone, get the family back to Rhode Island close to our extended family, and set to move into our home once our renters leave, and figure out how the heck we're going to make more living space (either by finishing the basement or financing an addition) for a family of six.

And for me? Get the Hell into shape. While this old sailor's job probably won't be running around the desert or the mountains in "full battle rattle" I hope not to be sitting in cubicles sipping coffee and making powerpoint slides either.

The Day New Year's Eve Really Started To Mean Something

So once upon a time somebody decides arbitrarily (or maybe not so arbitrarily) that the planets current location in its orbit around the Sun is the beginning of its next orbit, and that day is called January 1st, the first day of the New Year. All these centuries later, as if we're passing "Go" and collecting another $200 we're supposed to celebrate it. I did for a while, until I realized that a drunk December 31st is just like a drunk (month/day here) only riskier because everyone else is out being stupid, too.

So New Year's Eve just became another night quietly spent, especially once I became a husband and father. Have some drinks, have them at home, relax...

Until 31 December 2003, when the fetus inside my 38-weeks pregnant wife failed a non-stress test/bio-physical profile. She was already transitioning into labor, so the doctors helped her along with some additional hormones and at 10pm EXACTLY my oldest daughter came into the world.

So for five years now, I've finally been given a reason to celebrate December 31st. That reason is a bright, artistic, athletic girl, who is an amazing singer (her whole life is a musical, to hear her tell-no, sing - it), a wonderful improvisational dancer, and a great soccer player. Oh, and she's hard-headed, knows what she wants, and is not afraid to ask for it or just go get it for herself.

Happy Birthday, my dear.

Love,

Dad