A New Home For The Holidays...

2007 is going out with a fucking bang, kids.

Tomorrow is my Dad's 69th burfday, and yeah, he already made the sex joke. I don't really know how I feel about my father still being a pimp, but hey. Mike and I are taking him out to Vasilies to celebrate and this will be the first Dad and the kids dinner we've had in months.

Unfortunately, some bittersweet undertones are already present because the night is doubling as a goodbye. On Friday, in the wee hours of the morning, Mommi, Mike and I are hittin' the road. For the first time in my life... I am celebrating Christmas in Connecticut.

My Mom's side of the family has some deeply rooted attachment up there, and I cannot wait to see what it looks like covered in snow! We usually just go up in the summer, but as my relationships with all of my cousins (two of them in particular) have grown, so has the pull to be up there more often. That was cemented earlier this month when my Uncle Rich passed away and everyone came down here for the services.

I am so lucky to have this opportunity at this point in my life. I get to go up and spend the weekend with the extended fam, drive back and catch midnight mass with Daddi on Christmas Eve, have presents and brunch at Mom's and then go to my aunt's for dinner. Two days later, I'm catchin' a plane to Pittsburgh for my good friend Justin's sister's wedding. But don't worry... I'll be back in time for New Years. Which will kick ass, by the way. As soon as I figure out what the hell I'm doing. It's going to be a fast, wild ride full of people I love and I need it.

The past few months have just been really hard on me. It seems like life always travels in waves, and I like 'em big... so I can't really expect the bad ones to go easy. But I have been blessed -- in ways that I had taken for granted -- and without the recent events, I may never have realized it.

I cannot wait to live the shit out of these next two weeks. I want to look back on 2007 and say that it was the start of something big. I hope to see some of you along the way... if you can keep up, of course.