January 5, 2009

  • I know everybody else always does their end of the year bullshit in the middle of December, but I have never been like everybody else. After all, the middle of December still leaves a good 2-3 weeks left of the year. Last year I did a summary of each month with a different post in December. This year I'm just going to sum up the year in my life with one post.

    2008 was an extreme year for me filled with historic highs and devastating lows and not much in between. It was a year that truly had opposites occur a lot. In March I kind of lost one of my oldest friends when we had a conversation online about my homosexuality. It was a devastating blow. That same month I came very close to losing my job for reasons I don't agree with, do understand and would do again without thinking twice.

    In April I went to the Cubs opener for the first time since 2004. The Cubs season would be like no other Cubs season I could remember, except that it had the same stupid fucking result at the end. Those fuckers. I missed a chance to witness history when I decided not to go to Cubs-Astros game in Milwaukee, only to miss out on Carlos Zambrano's no hitter. I told myself then I would not pass up a chance at history again. Later in the year, I proved my point.

    In May, for the second year in a row,  I took part in a charity poker tournament for make benefit the American Cancer Society. Much like the first year, I lost but had fun doing it. It was part of a rough gambling month of May for me.

    In late June and early July, I spent a fortune replacing my roof. It was a long time coming, honestly the roof had so much damage that its amazing the whole damn house didn't come down.

    August was by far and away not only the craziest month of the year, but also maybe the craziest one of my life. It started with my sister winding up in the hospital, the very same day I started my vacation. After she was out, I was able to take my vacation and drive a similar drive that my dad had taken with 2 friends back in 1948. I drove through Oklahoma, to Dallas, through Louisiana and up to Tunica, Mississippi before heading home, passing through 7 states along the way. I did this all by myself, which was very different. On August 13th, just a day after my vacation ended and I had gone back to work, I received a phone call from one of my best friends telling me that his parents had died. It was a shocking, sobering reality about life that rocked my world and shook me to the very core of my being.

    In September the hits just kept on coming. A friend of mine revealed a startling revelation that took me by complete surprise.

    Remember when I said I would not pass up another chance at history? Well, I was given a chance to witness history so big that it made Zambrano's no hitter look like wasted croutons. I was in Chicago's Grant Park when Barack Obama was elected the nations 44th president and was within site distance of him when he gave his beautiful speech. It was a night I will never forget and one of the highlights of my life.

    Sometimes life goes in full circle. I started the year not friends with my former best friend, Jt. By the end of the year, we were good friends again. The seed was planted when for whatever reason, we started talking just briefly with small talk at a party we were both at back in February. Maybe it was the massive amounts of alcohol we consumed, but an olive branch was sent at that time. We were little more then causal friends up until the day that changed everything, August 13th, when our very good friend lost his parents. With that, our friendship was fully rekindled, making it the silver lining on a very dark and bleak cloud. My year ended with him inviting me to dinner on New Year's eve with his girlfriend and her mom. We later rang in the new year at a friends house surrounded with people who had seen the trial, tribulations, joys and heartaches of our now 15 year friendship. Such a moment was never thought of as being possible when the year started, yet was ever so welcomed as the year ended.

    Our friendship has really been through so much and everybody certainly would have understood if we had not reconciled. Still, its a testament to friendship, forgiveness and two open minded people that such a reconciliation could be attained. That for me, was the best thing to come out of this dismal year, something to be grateful for about 2008.