oh five

The clock ticked and we broke out the new calendar that I received from my insurance man. My dear, beautiful wife took me to a New Year's Eve party last night hosted by her friend, Audrey Niffenegger. Many of the folks at the party were artists or writers - my wife plunged in and connected with these people immediately. I tried and I tried, but I could not fit in. I leaned against the kitchen wall and drank my beer. My sweet wife finally took pity on me after I grumbled a bit. We left before midnight. We saw oh five in with our two girlies, watching the lakefront fireworks from the second floor of our old house. I crashed right after that. I was yanked from my sleep at 3:00 a.m. with a wicked sore throat. I am facing the New Year with a lousy cold.

We prepared the "New Year Good Luck" meal - Hoppin' John, which is based on black eyed peas. Humanity needs good luck. We lived through a pretty challenging year in 2004. On the local level, our next door neighbor died unexpectantly in September. On a global scale - this is one of the worst years in our lifetimes. There was lots of human violence in many locations, topped by the tsunami. Oh five ought to be better.