Happy New Year!

Just a quick note to wish everyone I know a happy 2014!

The passing of the great British actor Peter O’Toole brought to mind one of his most popular films, My Favorite Year, released in 1982.  I wish that film title could describe my 2013, but my reasons for assigning this particular year a lower ranking than that are pretty obvious, at least to me.  Good riddance to it!

It’s great having Caroline home from her sophomore year at Wesleyan University for Christmas, and she’ll be here for another few weeks.  Had a great Christmas dinner with cousin Nick, his lovely wife Andrea and their beautiful daughter Miranda, who is very busy weighing her choices for college next year.  Tried to coordinate holiday get-togethers with Russ and Melody, but dog injuries and new jobs (good and bad) got in the way of that.

Enough already; this is starting to sound like those letters you get with Christmas cards.  The ones I set aside to read but then Pam has to warn me a week after New Year’s that she’s tossing them so I can say wait, I haven’t read those yet!  Just kidding; I love getting those letters, and they make great Presidents Day reading.  Kind of like certain “blogs.”

The holidays were not without their share of weirdness.  I was anticipating a visit from an old friend and his newest soul mate, with whom he had purchased a two-flat on Chicago’s northwest side within the past year. (Names have been withheld to protect the innocent.)   I was looking forward to the visit when I learned that plans had changed and that my friend would now be accompanied by another old friend instead of the soul mate.  These new plans then took a bizarre and tragic turn when I learned that the first friend would now be unable to make the trip due to the death of his older brother in an auto accident up in the deepest wilds of Alaska.  This is another story altogether that I may re-visit in a future edition of MBFGC.

Fortunately, my other friend Dave (not innocent so in no need of protection) was still able to make the trip.  Dave is an old, old friend I have not seen in many years.  He is recovering from a bad marriage that nonetheless produced two very nice kids, a daughter in her twenties and a son, 16.  He is also dealing with health issues and has taken some dramatic steps in recent years to address both physical and emotional issues in his life.

Dave was diagnosed with MS several years ago and embarked on a mission to take over his own health care.  He quit his job and enrolled at one of the better known schools for integrative medicine, with branches in San Diego, Chicago, and New York.  Now he’s a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist and I think does some massage stuff as well.  All pretty surprising, considering Dave is an old softball buddy with whom I shared many a late night of heavy boozing and other “alternative treatments” back in the day.  But what he’s doing now works great for him; he seems in the peak of health and is managing the MS quite well, thank you kindly.  It was good to have Dave around last week to reinforce the good behavior that I’m known to slack off from more frequently than is good for me.  The free acupuncture for the entire family was great, too!  But just in case you think that Dr. Andrew Weil moved in with us for the weekend, be advised that Dave also celebrated his visit by consuming half the supply of red wine in New Mexico, tho Pam and I helped a little.

Well, that’s all for now, as I’m heading out for some MRI fun this afternoon.  These will be my first scans in about eight weeks, so I’ll soon know how my little dark passenger has been celebrating the holidays.  I’ll update you in the next edition of MBFGC.  I hope all of you are imbued with the hope and positive energy that the New Year brings.  At least those of you who haven’t already felt the hard slap of reality in Chicago and other frozen outposts east of the Land of Enchantment.

GOODBYE AMIGOS!  SEE YOU SOON!  HAHA!!