Countcher Goddamn Blessings 2002

[Last night on the phone, Jessica and I were bemoaning the seeming fact that 2002, especially the last half, pretty much sucked for everyone we know. Jess's ill regard for the year just past had its immediate origin in the tragic death of her wolvish dog Thorin. Thorin was an unexpected inheritance from her blessedly ended marriage; her ex bought him because of his supposed wolf ancestry, some kind of macho twist on a boy and his dog. Jess took Thorin to the dog groomers in Goleta the other day, and as soon as someone left a door open, he fled into the street. Yes, you can write the sequel.]

[This was the year Death and I finally got a chance to look each other in the eye. Not to belittle his passing, but from my point of view, Harvey was something of a warm-up; I never knew what it was to lose anyone really close until November. To be in the same room as my grandmother died was such a...oh, I hate when people say such-and-such was a "life-changing event," usually about three drug-soaked days in Amsterdam. However, if one event in my year will bear the description, that would be it. It wasn't particularly fun, and my family is still fighting skirmishes in the subsequent War of Emotional Fallout.]

[As Jessica and I groused about 2002, I felt an undercurrent of optimism that refused to go away. I didn't share it with her, but I just couldn't help going all Pollyanna inside thinking about all the incredible blessings 2002 has brought, or more specifically, not seen fit to take away:]

[John and I just celebrated our SIXTH New Year's together.]

[We're still alive, in reasonably good health (if there's one resolution for '03 that I'm taking seriously, it's shoring up the health front), and still goofy in love.]

[Law school is going well, I'm the managing editor of the law journal, and will have an article in this year's edition. I don't know what I want to do with the degree, but I know being a student again has saved my life.]

[Ringing in the New Year last night at the Friendly Neighborhood Cabaret made me thankful for close friends. "Thankful" is too mild, almost too quiet a word for the feeling, but it's the one you and I use for that fierce sense of affection.]

[My family, while not without its quirky dysfunction, is a loving group, from whom I feel emotional and material support. They also crack me up.]

[OUT OF DEBT!!!!!! (Except for student loans, which don't come due for another year and a half...)]

[Y Tu Mama Tambien, The Cat's Meow, Chicago, The Two Towers; Life With Bonnie, a dark season of Buffy; albums by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Ladytron, Alison Moyet, and They Might Be Giants; finally reading The Hours; the lost season of Sifl & Olly on DVD; and in concert: Bananarama, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Pet Shop Boys, Billy Idol, Pink, Rita Moreno, the B-52's, They Might Be Giants, and Saint Etienne.]

[Guests: Martha, David, Brenda, Jenny. Newly met: Jennifer, Leah's brother Drew, his girlfriend, and folks at the Cute Victorian Hotel Around the Corner.]

[London, Palm Springs, and a cooking "class" in Sonoma.]

[No, 2002 didn't suck. And 2003 will be better.]

Previously Next