It’s been busy.

I started this way back on 12/20/09

You know what I’m talking about, the headlong rush into the New Year that seems to come earlier and earlier. I used to thing it started around Thanksgiving but now it seems like it starts up around Halloween. I’m not crazy about this time of the year either because of the colder weather and the shorter days. I’m a bit of a grinch too when it comes to the holiday thing.

The best New Year’s I’ve had have involved me being in Florida to celebrate. The combination of being in Florida and being with beautiful women both times made those celebrations special.

Of course since the last time I was in Florida, I spent consecutive New Year’s sitting in the hospital keeping watch on the EYOC and keeping him company. Since those times I’ve opted for a quieter celebration as I’ve gotten life back to a place where I want it to be.

The past seven or so days have rocketed by and although I managed to get Christmas Cards out this year, the social calendar has been a bit of a hit or miss kind of affair. A week ago Saturday the cards went out and I was slated to attend a party in the evening but I got a bit of news that took the wind out of the sails regarding that plan.

Sunday there was another party to attend, a birthday party. It was a great affair! In a way it offset the news of the day before but it wasn’t without it’s own drama. If you’re of a short memory, while we had the ‘blizzard’ yesterday, last Sunday we had the amazing ice storm.

It’s a bit funny how quickly something becomes yesterday’s news.

I wish I could remember what I was talking about. Not just on the party front but also on the news front.

I do know that one of the New Year’s that I spent with the old man was just a few days before he died. You know, at the end I couldn’t just abandon him. Strange as it may sound, for as shitty a guy as he was, as horrible a monster he was as a father, the other folks who set examples for me set enough of an example that I knew what responsibility was.

It’s funny, I have a half sibling who was pretty much absent when it came to caring for the monster. She managed to make an appearance when he looked to be close to death’s door and it might mean a sudden windfall but over the months that windfall disappeared and as much as she had tried to insinuate herself into events she pulled a big disappearing act leaving me to keep at the heavy lifting.

That was fine, I had been doing the heavy lifting on this front all along but it was telling just how fast she disappeared when it was clear no money would be coming her way, talk about a piece of shit. Then again considering the monster, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree in that regard.

That last go round with the monster? He was in the hospital and I wasn’t contacted because the greedy bitch had somehow managed to set herself up as point of contact for the facility in question. Legally she had no right to do that but what was really worrisome was that although the hospital contacted her she didn’t respond at all!

So, I spent all this time with a guy who was dying. It was fine, you should be there for people in those moments, it’s the right thing to do, not the easy thing to do, not the thing you want to do but the thing that you can look yourself in the mirror later and not feel regret about your behavior.

At that point in time I had nothing more to gain from him, this dynamic was not about me gaining anymore, whatever I had to gain was already resolved, I only had responsibility pushing me here. The day before he died I saw a lawyer about it because I found it intolerable, I couldn’t afford to have something bad happen to him because he didn’t have an advocate.

And then, he was dead the next day... funny how things work in life.

It‘s always been easier for me to take care of others than it is to take care of myself and that’s simply another thing I need to fix.