Looking back on 2008, I find that I’ve taken an incredible journey this year. At the beginning of January I was back in Denver, starting my semester at MSCD. I had yet to meet my beautiful car, Simon, and I was still convinced that Danny and I were great together.
February 4th: Simon became a part of the family in the midst of a snowstorm.
As the months passed, I settled in at home and began to realize that I yearned to be back in Chicago. Plans were made.
Danny and I fell apart because I realized that some things would never change.
Chicago welcomed me back with open arms.
I cancelled plane tickets to go to Portland to visit Chicago again instead.
Dairy Queen nearly killed me this summer. Shake Lady, manager issues and too many hours were a constant anxiety.
The road trip devastated my bank account but left me utterly thrilled with life. From Denver to St. Louis, St. Louis to Chicago and then back again.
To see the boys, to go to the beach, to sit in their apartment and hang out was magical. We looked for apartments and plans were made once again.
The end of summer. The long haul out to Chicago. Mike and Mom were nice enough to make it as well, beating me there.
Getting used to living on my own (with Emily).
Adjusting to the pigeons, the aparmtent.
Getting my bike stolen.
The beach.
The beach!
The beach!!!!
Summer!
Visit home in September.
Hunter Johnson.
Halloween.
The election of Barack Obama!!!
Pre-thanksgiving Thanksgiving.
Going home to Denver.
Fruitypants picking me up at the airport.
Going back.
Football season.
Parties.
Christmas presents.
Winter.
Love.
The horrendous haul from Chicago to St. Louis.
Recylcling.
Laverne and Shirley!
Failing Logic.
Getting an A in Ballet!

It’s been a great year.

Let’s all work for the earth in 2009. Let’s turn off our lights, walk a little more, waste less water and recycle more often.

Let’s work for love instead of hate, peace instead of war, smiles instead of tears.

Let’s love everyone we meet instead of hating them. Let’s be more understanding and less rude. Let’s remember why we love our family and friends. Let’s be thankful, appreciate and kind. Let’s do something wild and spontaneous! Let’s go on an adventure, take a chance, grant a wish, give a smile. Let’s support our new President and help him with the struggles that lay ahead for our country.
Let’s remember not to yell, not to sweat the small stuff and to remember that there’s nothing we can’t do.
Let’s stay happy and healthy!

Peace and love, all.
Happy 2009!

Grandma Mary with baby Kimber at Juanita’s house. 12/25/2008
Sweet baby. She loved playing peek-a-boo with Mike.

Thanks to Aunt Sally, Grandmas Al and Mary, Grandpa Joe, Aunt Jan and Uncle Mike, Brian, Juanita, Marshal, Aunt Joan, Dad, Jeanie and mostly Mom for making this a wonderful Christmas.
I hope you all had a wonderful day filled with love and family.

I picked him up from work that night, stopping on Michigan Avenue and he jumped into my car, taxis honking behind me. The street is one of the most famous streets in Chicago. It contains the Magnificent Mile, Millenium Park, Tribune Tower and more importantly, Burger King and Joyce Ford.
We drove there. I was bubbling with excitement. He got us food and then we went and parked a block away at a very female-centered Ford dealership that plays the most terrible commercials on tv. “If you like Bill here…” cut to a man standing there next to Joyce, a bleached-blond middle-aged woman selling American-made cars…”then you’ll love the Ford Focus. But if you like Jim…” cut to another man with a totally different look…”you’d love the Edge.”
Emily and I always park across the street and eat our Burger King while it’s still hot and delicious. He’d never been and was terrified of the idea of sitting in a dark car on a dark street in a less than savory neighborhood. I think he loved it in the end though. Who wouldn’t?
I eat ridiculously fast, so I had to wait for him to finish. He told me he’d only open my presents if I opened his. So I did.
He loved his new wallet. I looked and looked and finally found a really nice one that will last him a long time. (Hopefully.) He opened the box that I wrapped the bell bottoms in. When he realized what they were, he was ecstatic.
“If you had told me to make a list of 100 things I thought you would get me, I wouldn’t have put these on it. But now I can make a list of 100 things that aren’t better presents than bell bottoms.”
I was so happy.
I received romance novels with a Hunter twist. They’re all about monsters or something scary (to remind me of him when I read them). I also got a movie that I’d really wanted for awhile.
All in all, great Christmas.
He put them on and they fit perfectly, and to my surprise, looked good. Really good. Now I don’t mind the idea of bell bottoms so much.

We left Chicago around noon yesterday. Our plan was to leave a lot earlier, but you know that always works out. Emily and I had to take our recycling to the place while Hunter brought all of our bags down and helped us load up. We made sure that everything was off and that we had everything we needed. I’m not sure that we do, of course.
The drive started out fine, but soon turned terrifying. Simon is a small car, not much weight on his little frame, and not very good at powering through ice and snow. So we hit I-55 and hit blowing snow and ice. I can’t pass trucks because getting into the second lane is scary because it’s not always road but often snow-covered ice and slush.
The drive that normally takes us 4.5 hours with a couple of stops took us 7. We had to stop twice to get the ice that was building up on my car off of it. I kicked a quarter of an inch of ice off my front. It covered the license plate, the lights, the Honda symbol, the hood and the side mirrors. My windshield wipers worked because I kept them moving the whole time, but they too were covered in a sheet of ice.
It was slow going and I was perfectly content to do that. We arrived safe and sound, albeit exhausted.
I am flying out tonight, having gotten a good night’s sleep and no laundry done.

Dairy Queen may have unofficially fired me. I had them put up a note that said that I wanted some hours over break. When I called for my schedule, there were no hours for me. I texted Tonya and asked and she told me: I’m not working much as it is. I need the hours for the kids. blah blah blah. So basically I’m not allowed back and I’m annoyed.
She’s never working much as it is. Funny how that works out.

It’ll be nice to get home and see everyone. I’ll only be home for a couple of weeks, and it’ll be nice to get back to Chicago again.
I hope our pigeons are going to be alright while we’re gone.

The ballet final was today. She suggested that perhaps I should consider a career in writing. I told her it was not something I’d ever considered.

I went today and bought Hunter a wallet and two pairs of bell bottoms. He’s been talking about them for years but has never bought a pair. I hope he likes them. They might be too small though, so we’ll see. The only problem is that he’ll wear them, so I may be causing myself some trouble in the process.
Emily and I made that bow out of fail wrapping paper. I think it looks beautiful!!!

Yay! Let’s hope he likes it.

Grades are starting to come in. It’s going to be an ultimately disappointing semester after the Logic fiasco. However, I’ve realized that it was an illogical decision to attempt to do symbollese-filled geometry, something that I’ll never be able to wrap my head around.
So, the first grade, B-. Cinema. Ugh. His notes for me were that I finished strong, which means I spent way too much of the first half of the semester not paying attention. The usual. Who can be expected to work when the sun is shining and the beach calls?
Ballet is not expected to be excellent, although who really knows at this point?
Women, Crime and Justice should be the most solid A I’ve ever gotten. I’ve learned that I really try in the classes that I like.
Social Justice, ugh. I have an A- going into the final, so at least a B there.

Oh well. Such is life.

We’re preparing to head to St. Louis on Tuesday. I’m anxious. However, come and visit me at the DQ over the next few weeks because I will for sure be there. Recessions really don’t look good on anyone. I swear, I thought I was done with that nonsense forever. Maybe they’ll give me a raise. Oh man, no way.

So now that you now about my mediocre semester, here’s the text of something our neighbor wrote about Mom earlier this year:
[Maybe this will get me back in good graces… 🙂 ]

Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Lucky duck
I have one incredible neighbor. I was reminded of that again today.

My daughters usually crash her house most afternoons after 4:00 or whenever it is that we get home. Today, true to themselves, 4:00 roles around and off they go. One right after the other, spilling out the back door.

You see we don’t have a portion of our fence that joins our yards to hers. It fell down maybe 1 1/2, maybe 2 years ago. We have looked into getting a new fence. We have had people come out and bid to build a new fence, but the truth of the matter is that we love not having that section up. Diana also claims that she loves not having that fence up. When the people came to bid, she would ask if we could keep one section down so my kids could still come to see her. She has an open back door policy with them. If she is home, they are welcome to come.

Tonight I get a call soon after the girls go on their way. How soon before dinner Mom? We are going to make some cookies. They have an hour before dinner, so they were given permission as long as they waited to eat them.

A little while later I head over to round them up and bring them home for dinner. There is Avery on Diana’s lap with her own spatula scrapping cookies from the cookie sheet. Avery knows to scrape and then drop the cookie on the foil. Bailey is also helping with her own spatula. Big smiles on all three faces. Once again truly enjoying each other’s company.

Our next door neighbor does have two kids of her own, but they are in college now and have moved away. Katie to Chicago, and Mike, not too far, but still in Greeley. She misses her babies, but talks with them often. They will be home again soon, but in the meantime… if they don’t mind too much… my babies are happy to come and play.

Thank you Diana for everything you do for us!!

I’m annoyed.
I really hate Christmas.
For some reason, it just makes me sadder every year.
Sure, I’ve been listening to Emily’s Christmas music.
Sure, I love the Christmas lights strung up everywhere, and sure I love presents (who doesn’t?), but I really hate everyone’s attitude.
Christmas is terrible, really.

Everyone wastes money that they don’t have buying people things they don’t need. Why don’t we spend the money on something wonderful instead? I mean, I love getting nice perfume or something, but the people who have piles and piles of gifts aren’t learning anything about Jesus. We’re feeding them straight capitalism.
We march past the homeless to put a quarter in the red buckets that the bell ringers are guarding. Why don’t we serve a hot meal to someone who needs it? Why don’t we give blankets to the poor?
What would Jesus do, Christians?
I received an email this morning, I’m sure some of you got it, about Christmas being just for the birth of Christ and about how this isn’t a holiday. It was a forward, though, and no one I know wrote it, so pardon the attack that I’m about to launch:

Here’s a little excerpt:

These are NOT Holiday Trees
They are not Hanukkah bushes
They are not Allah plants
They are Christmas trees.
Say it..
CHRISTmas , CHRISTmas , CHRISTmas

Yes CHRISTmas -not Holiday
We are not celebrating the birth of a Holiday!!!
We are
Celebrating the Birth of
Jesus Christ!!!

Wow, was the author of this email smoking crack? “We are not celebrating the birth of a holiday!!!” Holiday, strictly speaking, means holy day. (Look it up.) The day that your lord was born is not a holy day to you? Wow, what does Christmas mean? From the looks of that excerpt from the email, it means that the person who wrote that doesn’t care about peace or love (good things, I would say) but instead cares only about making sure that everyone follows what they believe in.
You’ll notice that each of the major religions, in their purest form, promote peace and justice in the world, hope and joy rather than hate and anger. But once those ideas fall into the hands of people, they are nothing, twisted until some message appears.
Christians, watch yourselves. You’re all selfish and rude, and the attempt to force everyone on this planet to believe what you believe really hurts me.
Of course the Christmas trees aren’t Allah bushes or Hannukah plants, that’d be stupid. Only Christians would come up with a way to make a plant something necessary for their worship and/or celebration.
Hannukah has its own traditions. The dreidel, the menorah, those things are what the Jewish people use to celebrate their own holiday.
And while Islam does not have a “Christmas equivalent,” they have their own set of beliefs and practices as well.

The repetition and capitalization of the word “CHRISTmas” as well cracks me up. It reminds me of a scene in the 1985 comedy “Better Off Dead” in which a very American woman is being completely untolerant of the French foreign exchange student. She keeps repeating “CHRISTmas” over and over, progressively getting louder as the student has been pretending she doesn’t speak English. We are just like that. Slamming people over the head with our pervasive, persistantly annoying culture.

So next time you say “Merry Christmas,” just think for a second. Do you really want to force your beliefs down the throats of others? Do you really want to be “that guy?”
Say what you feel. I’ve been signing all of my emails: “May your holiday season be filled with joy and most especially peace.” Yeah, it’s lame, but at least I don’t look close minded. We live in a country that is supposed to be based on the separation of church and state, yet at the same time, we are a completely Christian country. We don’t think about it because most of us were raised Christian. We don’t know any better.

Let’s all practice a little tolerance this holiday or CHRISTmas season by not hating everyone who isn’t us. (But where’s the fun in that?)

Pardon my rant, I’m a little cranky this morning. I missed a final because my car started honking AGAIN at 6:30 this morning. It continued until I took it in at 8:15. I explained my situation to the guy who took care of the intake process this morning. He was very understanding and supportive and I was filled with hope.
At 8:30, as I was leaving, I got a call from Gino, the man who worked on my car last time and who will be doing it again today. He doesn’t believe me. He tells me that last time, he left it here and it was silent. That’s fine, Gino, I said, why don’t you ask my neighbors? I’m sure they have a few choice words for you.
I do as well. For $350, I expected my car to be fixed. I didn’t ask for it to only occasionally be fixed. And it will return to your stupid dealership as many times as it needs to until it is silent. All the time.
Ugh. I am exhausted. I’m in a terrible mood. I just want this week to be over.

I don’t want to come home for break. I’ll miss my friends. Hopefully, I’ll be working to cover some of the cost of this stupid stupid stupid car. I need a miracle.

And so I went. Dressed in my ballet uniform: pink tights, ballet shoes, black leotard, hair pulled all the way back.
We sat in the crowded theater as the run-through progressed. Here we are, at the culmination of our semester of hard work, and we miss the cue. It’s just the run-through, I think, pushing the girl in front of me out. We’re front row, going through the motions. I can’t see the crowd, it’s made up of the rest of the girls and a few scattered guys from the dance department, but as I look into it, I hear laughter. Oh man, I think, we’re just bombing this. It’s so bad.
From the corner, we hear our ballet teacher. “Make it work, guys! Just make it work!” and so we keep going. On and off the stage, running in and out, in succession…
The run through ends. We’re told that the music level can’t be adjusted, that we’re going to have to hope that we hear it. Great. We sit, clustered in the basement of the theater and we talk. It’s not bad, actually. We laugh a little. I’m being friendly, charming and sweet, all of the things I’m sure the teacher wishes I was.
And then it’s time.
We’re called. We’re waiting in the wings. And it begins. We don’t miss our cue. The audience is packed. The show sold out three hours before it began. No one made it to see me, and for that fact I am eternally grateful. They were all tied up with another simultaneous show.
We did it! We run off and then it’s over. I go out into the cold night realizing that I’m almost done with ballet.

Great!

As soon as the break commenced, I found myself haunting the places that I had so often dwelled in my youth. We wound our way up the snow-covered roads to Red Rocks, where we trudged through darkness and snow to reach the silent amphitheater. The seats were smooth with white covering, no one had yet touched them, run over them or kicked footprints through them. We saw a buck, as big as a female moose, prodding his mate up the snowy hills. We saw two more deer by the side of the road, as we went up, and then two more in a field as we went down.
The city itself was another task to conquer. We drove through the old streets, finding houses that we liked or Christmas lights. We drove through Burger King, the usual run, only to find that the food was as delicious as ever.
I saw Emma, the yellow lab I’ve come to love so much. She wagged her tail at me, her fat little body shaking with excitement.
We went back to the airport, and I found myself crying for the loss of those moments and the memories that I carry with me still of our time together.
The flight home was miserable, as most of those early morning flights are. I slept, Mike’s big hood covering my eyes. When I woke, we were circling Joliet, circling, circling until Midway could get a runway open for us in the snow.
I landed and Hunter came with my beloved Simon to pick me up. I let him drive back, content to sit and watch him. I hadn’t realized how much I missed him. “I wasn’t going to tell you this,” he said, “but I missed you.” He held my hand the whole way home and I was happy.
Emily and I ran errands last night. I loved returning to our little house. She had auditions for plays coming up, and so Hunter came to see me. We watched a movie, tired of it, and then turned on Monday Night Football to see the end of it. We curled up, watched some “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and I fell asleep, exhausted from the early day.
I’m sick now. The first cold of the season had to strike me during the last week of school, of course. I had managed to maintain my health until now, when all of a sudden I have been struck down. My nose is running, my lungs are coughing, I’m sneezing, hot, cold, miserable.
Ah, but such is life. And everything is going to be alright.
Except for Logic, but we’ll deal with that another day.

Just for Mom: Mike and I parasailing this summer in the Caribbean.

There was an event whispered about, invitations sent out early. Only have plans changed did the plan change, the secret out. I told her this morning, after her diversion had been ruined.
And so it goes on, the plans and the cleaning.
The guests will arrive later as night falls around the cold city.
So we will see….