I sit after having done some of the things my mom always did for the holidays. I put a coin in the window as wish that I wouldn't ever be totally broke, had a piece of fish for good luck, and I was going to watch Dick Clark's Rocking New Year's Eve but just don't have the desire to see the new hosts.

I look back at this year and am ready to see it go. There have been many issues. Sometimes I wish I could have been better prepared. My back was the main and over all issue of the year. From the moment it went I have been spending money for doctors and treatments. I am finally getting to the point where I am not in constant pain, but it has wiped out ever dime I had put aside. Just in time for my muffler system in my car to go. As I was always told, if not for bad luck I'd have no luck at all. lol. However I am not too worried. Tax time is almost here and at least I will get that to fix the car.

I watched my father's health go through a few major bumps this year as well. Sometimes it is like an armed truce but I promised to help him as much as I can.

As I look forward to the New Year there are a few things I hope to accomplish. I am in search of a new job. I want something that will allow me a life. I use to have one. Hell, even when I ran the restaurant years ago my hours were more set then they are now. Hard to try to date or even meet up with friends with no weekends or evenings really free, or when your schedule is nothing alike one week to the other. Hell this year they change the schedule almost daily so you never know what you are doing.

Secondly, I am out to just have fun again. Find people to connect with. I hate being at work where I am in my forties and the next nearest person in my work area is twenty three. Not exactly fun when they are talking going out to three am to drink. The days, which I never really did when I was that age, of going out to bars and clubs are behind me. The older I get the more of homebody I become. So need to find a place and people my age where you can actually talk and be heard.

Third, I want to keep losing weight. Between my back, my health, and my best friend's wedding this year I have enough incentives to keep losing.

For everyone else I just wish them health and peace of mind. As wild as my year has been I have had friends with major health issues, deaths of family members, and more issues than anyone should have to deal with. If I could grant a gift it would the chance for them to relax and enjoy a better year.

So as one year ends and another prepares to begin I offer the wish of a Happy New Year that finds everyone with a deeper love, a healthy mind and body, time to reflect, and smaller problems.

- Wayne