Back To December…

Hello, I know I’ve been away for awhile.  I’ve been doing some living, and not enough writing.  It’s been another successful year in the DJ business, radio, and banking.  It’s also been a year of changes.  Changes I have made, changes that were made for me, changes yet to come, and changes I’m thinking about.  This blog is a bit of a free form, because I never know exactly what I’m going to write when I sit down.  It usually comes from some inspiration.  So, we’ll start my inspiration from Christmas Cards. 

Do you like getting Christmas Cards?  It’s one of the very few things that people mail anymore.  I have some old family friends, Malinda and George Gilbert who send me a card every year.  I always look forward to it.  My friend Lauren, who I’ve known forever sent me a card, a very sweet girl named Heather just sent me a Christmas card that I received today, I got Christmas cards at the bank, I got a few business Christmas cards, and then occasionally you get that Christmas card that you’re not exactly sure why you get it.  Then other times you get an e-mail, or someone reaches out to one of your relatives, and says so and so called me, and was asking about you.  You realize you haven’t seen this person since Las Vegas many moons ago.  You’re not exactly sure what to do with it, but you just say oh ok, and continue on.  Christmas brings out something in people.  It makes people reach out more than they normally would, it makes you forget past rights or wrongs, and sometimes you just feel compelled to say something.  I recently read this article about break-up’s.  I guess I’m kind of morbid, because I find these things fascinating.  When do you think that most break-up’s happen?  What would you guess?  Well the answer believe it or not is at Christmas time, and March.  I talked to a buddy of mine, and he said guys do it at Christmas to get out of the gifts, and girls do it in March to enjoy spring break, or after they are sick of having cabin fever with somebody, and then want to start anew.  I guess people must think about it for January and February, before they act?  I always wonder what do they think?  Well, it’s winter I’ve got nothing better to do, so I’ll just hang around until the weather gets better.  Not really good logic, but for some people, logic never really factors into their life.  I remember one particular break-up years ago on what I believe to be about 1998 on Dec. 23rd.  It’s the one time I’ll say that I probably had something coming to me.  When you’re a young guy, sometimes you get caught up in some things, possibiilities, and a new career.  It was a bit odd, because after we broke up, we exchanged Christmas gifts.  Now, I wasn’t really in the mood to exchange any Christmas gifts, but I opened the things, more because what was I going to do throw them out in the yard?  We all have tough days in our life.  I’ve talked to a lot of people lately that have had a lot of them this year.  I’ m sure you have a day in your life you remember like it was yesterday.  You don’t really want to, but you just kind of do.  As Christmas has gone on over the years, I’ve always remembered that day.  It kind stole the soul of the 1998 Christmas.  I thought it was going to be a good one, but it turned out to be a not so good one, but 1999 now that turned out to be a good year.  I learned some lessons, I changed some things, and I didn’t let one day define my life in a bad way.  I made the change as MJ says by looking at the man in the mirror.  I assessed what was wrong, and how I was going to live from that day on.  I’ve never wavered from how I felt about that day, and when I ever had selfish thoughts, or thoughts of hey life is going pretty good right now, I always remembered that day.  You have to have some low’s to balance out the high’s.  We don’t always like the low’s, but there are a reason that they happen.  If everything always went exactly how you wanted how well rounded would you really be?  My answer is “Not Very!”  Dec. 23rd might not mean much to other people, but I think it’s the day I really grew up.  I already felt somewhat grown-up, but on that day I knew I had no real choice but to get it together.  So, occasionally a conversation that you don’t expect to have, about a person from your past wanting a phone number, sends you back to December for more time than you want to.  Then you remember that Christmas is about the little things, the people ringing the bell for the Salvation Army, looking at the lights on the Xmas Tree, egg nog, old friends getting together for drinks and a movie, conversations, reflections, family, people who don’t have much who you encounter and you just try to be kind, a co-worker wanting you to listen to Christmas music even when you’re not quite in the mood, a collection guy telling you the line of the year, “I’m just walking through life waiting for it to end!”,(Ok that was a bit morbid), and then you get back to a card that you get your 92 year old grandfather, who has aged gracefully, always been steady, and not quit on his life or the way he’s done things for years, and you think you see a tear from a man who hasn’t shed many, and you remember, yeah it’s Christmas….  It makes the bad days not seem so bad, even if today you don’t think you can return the e-mail you didn’t expect to receive, or the phone call that came from out of the blue.  Sometimes you just want to enjoy this day for what it is with some new music from “Mama Sox” from American Idol, doing a little writing, doing a little reflecting, and not forgetting about always looking forward, always learning, always growing, and never forgetting about how hard it is to earn a dollar, and how you should never forget about the things that shaped your life no matter how many years later when you really haven’t gone back to December in quite a long time.

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