Happy 2018

Well, it's the start of another year and once again I'm getting over an illness. Last year it was the stomach flu, this year some kind of sinus thing but that's what you get when you have 19 people under one roof for an extended holiday with 7 of them kiddies of various ages. The germs were strong with them this year. But I think we're kicking the bug in time to drive back home tomorrow.

As much as I may worry about a year ahead. (2017 was a banner for anxieties.) It's impossible to start out the year on a sour note. Fifteen years ago, in the middle of a Southern Maryland ice storm my son was born three weeks early, after scaring us into thinking he was going to come a couple months early. This kid clearly had a mind of his own and we headed to the hospital right after the ball dropped. Since then we've had the tradition of singing Happy Birthday to him as it comes down.

So happy birthday my sweet Moose the Meme Lord. I love you and I cannot wait to see what you will accomplish in 2018 or see you in your flight suit for Space Camp. If it still actually fits you when the time arrives. Last year brought you your Confirmation, graduation from middle school and the start of high school, your first girlfriend and your first heartbreak. 2018 will be just as action-packed and awesome. Just you wait and see.