December 30, 2009 11:30 PM

At least I got the date right!

For the first time ever, I screwed up the date yesterday when I said that it was the 28th - of course it was the 29th! A senior moment. Either that or I just don't seem to want to let go of 2009. For the life of me, I can't come up with one rational reason why I would want to hang on to it.

Today was a great day. Yes, two of the grandchildren were here all day and my grandson got his house project done for Spanish class. I told him that I thought that those days were over when my own children grew up and moved away. But, in today's world, with both parents working it's tough for the kids to come by that old old-fashioned parental support. And, antway, we had all the materials and equipment on hand for him to do a real top notch job. So top notch that his mother couldn't fit the finished product in here car - it was so big!

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve for all of us and we are having some friends come and stay over for a quiet evening of dinner, champagne, and watching the Time's Square ball fall one more time. Two thousand ten - a year that I would never have seen without the advances of modern medicine over the past 40 years or so. I am so fortunate that things have worked out as well as they have for me. But, I am really bummed out that not one, but two people that I know have been diagnosed with leukemia this year. One appears to have turned the corner while the other continues to need our fervent prayers.

I don't mind so much for me - I can fight my own battles. But I just don't want to see others stricken with this disease who may not have the wherewithal to be able to properly take advantage of all that medicine has to offer.

I look forward to next year being the year the encompasses the greatest changes in my life as I continue to strive toward "normalcy". When will I be cleared to resume my noral activities?What will happen with work? Most importantly, what have I been called to do once I am "back on my feet"?

I know that I am not the same person that I was before, I have been humbled by this experience and, yet, I feel such an obligation to use it to benefit others in some way. It's going to interesting to see how that manifests itself in the months to come.

Here I go again, not having an idea what to write when I sit down at the computer and, yet, not being able to stop writing once I get started. I guess that it's because there are still a number of things bottled up inside that I can't let go of until I can get back out into the real world.

As I write these entries, I can never be sure how many people actually follow them. But, my daughter has said to me that whether or not anyone reads my entries is secondary to the fact that it gives me a chance to "let it all hang out". So, even though there are things that just can't be let out this way - these entries serve as a pressure valve release for me. She's probably right because this really is the only way that I can reach out at this point and, in a way, I look forward to the daily opportunity to do so.

It's amazing how that seems to work for me...

Bob