“Men plan,
children change the plans,
and God laughs”

I think December kicked me in the ass… no, I know December kicked me in the ass. Basically, by the second weekend into the month I’d already taken four sick days, spent four days with a fever shivering under my blankets, gotten a none-too-subtle warning from my principal that if I don’t turn around the behavior problems in my one pre-algebra class I was going to get an unsatisfactory appraisal on my record and I was about miss assignment deadlines in three of the four classes I was taking at Pepperdine for my doctorate. Of course under all of this was a smoldering frustration with the prospect of facing another Christmas alone, having broken off things with my former love just before Thanksgiving. Something had to give. Alas, it looked like the only way I was going to straighten all of this out was to get off the Pepperdine “fast track” and take care of the work situation. Ugh. I know that others have had worse things happen this past year, but I am so glad to be done with this damn year. About the only bright spot in this whole f-ing year was the birth of my grand-daughter and getting the precious opportunities just before Thanksgiving and after Christmas to hold her. She’s a bright star in an otherwise very dark expanse of time. Good riddens 2005, Praying for a better 2006.

JBB January 2006