Preparing for NEXT Christmas... and Other Positive Thoughts!

Usually Right is basically my "Dear Diary" tracing the decline and fall of America.

(*CHUCKLE*)

But it's not ALL gloom and doom! This blog also serves as a travelogue, every so often a cookbook, and once in awhile a page for me to share my... er... "feelings."

(*GRIN*)

It was nice to have Kim home for nine days. Furthermore, it looks as if Mary and I have something to look forward to - namely, another trip to the UAE come next December... next Christmas!

(Yeah... we figure since Kim & Shaky seem determined to visit family and friends in America each summer, the least we can do to take some of the financial pressure off them is to alternate Christmas' - and thus Christmas flights!)

Here's the thing, though: Now that Kim is working for a private school and not the government, her housing isn't what it once was. No 20 ft. balcony overlooking the city. No rooftop heated pool...

(*SIGH*)

Therefore... we may have to stay with (or at - depending upon the host's Christmas break itinerary) one of Kim's friends whose apartment COMES with all the bells and whistles... OR... Kim and Shaky are going to have to upgrade... OR...

(*GUFFAW*)

OK... I'm kidding...

(*PAUSE*)

...kind of kidding...

(*CHUCKLING SNORT*)

We'll work it out!

So... what else? What positive thoughts do I have to offer as this year comes to a close and a new year awaits just around the corner?

2014 was a pretty good year. I'm expecting 2015 will be as well. Business could be better, but then again... it could be worse! The Barker lifestyle? Well... except for being priced out of Macallan 18, life is good! This year we returned to Charleston and Savannah... also to Key West and Fort Lauderdale... and additionally we partied in that rollicking tinsel town of... Schenectady... and of course made it to the hallowed ground of Cooperstown! Not too shabby for the decidedly non-1%, huh?

(*HUGE FRIGGIN' GRIN*)

2014 was also the year of Kim - the celebration of our daughter's marriage to a young man I couldn't be fonder of nor prouder of. Shaky... you're a good man! (If you weren't... you'd be DEAD... parts of your rotting corpse buried in various off the beaten trail spots throughout upstate New York...)

(*SHRUG*)

Hey... folks... just keepin' it real!

(*CHUCKLE*)

My wife? She's the GREATEST! (They don't refer to her as "Saint Mary" for nothing!)

My friends? God bless you all! You know who you are and you know how much I love you. A toast:

Sociability!

To my buddy God... 

(*SHRUG*)

You da Man!

Father... Son... Holy Ghost... so far, so good! Thanks for all YOU do for me and mine! Thanks for Your protection and Your love. I know You're there... because I've felt Your presence. If not for Your intervention... I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have made it this far.

I could go on and on about all the things I'm grateful for. I won't, though. Instead... allow me to close with a bit of humility:

I'm far from perfect. In fact, I can be a real prick. I can be obnoxious, condescending, short-fused, wrongly assumptive, impatient, uncompromising, nasty, belittling, unfair, and downright mean at times. 

I'm sorry. I'll try to do better in 2015.

As for my good qualities... my "better self"... I'll try to keep feeding into that part of my nature... hopefully the truer side of my nature.

That's all I've got, folks! 

Merry Christmas...

Happy New Year...

AND LET'S ALL HAVE SOME FUN IN 2015...!!!