I Am Much More Cheerful Than This Post Would Indicate.

So. That happened.

And by "that" I mean I spent Christmas Eve night hunched over the toilet in fervent prayer to ye olde porcelain gods as a raging 12-hour stomach bug had its way with me.  It wasn't pretty, it wasn't pleasant, and only my husband will ever know the full extent of what he cleaned up for me that night.  Suffice it to say that it was maybe the most thoughtful and self-sacrificing Christmas gift ever.  Nay, perhaps "Christmas Miracle" is not too strong a word for his actions.  But my perspective could have been skewed by the fact that I was incoherent with the vomiting and the diarrhea and such.  I might also be half-convinced I saw Elvis in a Santa hat streaking naked through our back yard out my bathroom window, so my impressions of that evening should likely be taken with a grain of salt. (A really, really big grain of salt.  Perhaps a salt lick?)

So the whole family has been through that bug and back again, and we're all well just in time for New Year's Eve.  Also, just in time for me to realize exactly how boring we have officially become as our NYE plans consist of a bottle of champagne (which I keep forgetting to put on ice - one sec - okay, done!) and probably several hours of me whining about my husband playing Gears of War 2 instead of hanging out with me because there is nothing more interesting to do.  If we're feeling frisky, we may break out the Scrabble. (And not Strip Scrabble, either. Also not "Scrabble" in the euphemistic sense, but the actual game of Scrabble.... which, incidentally, became way less interesting to play together after I scored an opening Bingo with "tornado" on my first turn when we played one time at a bed and breakfast in Maine and do you love how I am rambling this sentence on in the hopes that you'll just go ahead and realize there's nothing useful to be read in this post?)

Oh 2008.  You brought us Milo, for which I am forever thankful, and of course the candidate on whom I have pinned my hopes for a better future for my country ... well, he got elected. (Obama Mama - Hollah!) but beyond that I'm struggling to find anything else that was good to mention.  I mean, we are fortunate to have a roof over our heads and my husband is still (for the moment, anyway) employed -- allowing me to continue my decadent lifestyle of Pop Tarts and network television -- and on that point we are doing better than a lot of other people.

2007, for us, was the year of The Miscarriage, the year of the Herniated Discs, the year of Appendicitis and Emergency Surgery.  It was the year my husband was on travel for about 4 months straight and the year my Grandmother died.  So 2008 was a year of such high hopes.  And yet here I sit without my winning lottery ticket or a million-dollar idea to change the world and take early retirement.

So, I guess what I'm saying is: 2008 was my year of the status quo.  And I suppose, given the alternatives, that is probably just fine with me.

But 2009? If you could somehow drop a big bag of money on my head, or wake me up in the middle of the night with a really supremely awesome way to change the world or at least move somewhere closer to a nice beach? That would be really Quite Okay with me...

I seem to have misplaced my cheer, but I'm hopeful I can locate it somewhere in 2009.  In the mean time, I've still got my sense of humor and - really - what more can I ask for?

Happy New Year, Internets.