London has already celebrated with much splendor and the end of the year is drawing near for the United States. For our family we decided to just celebrate the night quietly together. I guess this kind of signifies the type of year we have had. It has been a good year for us. Some important goals have been met or or at least a lot of progress has been made. However, it has been tiring and almost chaotic at times. That’s why, when it came down to deciding what to do, we took the route some would call boring. We went out to eat as a family, came home, turned on the TV to wait for the ball in Times Square to drop and are playing the game of Life. Maybe not the choice for most, but it is just what we wanted and probably needed. We are closer than a lot of families I think. The four of us almost always prefer to be together rather than apart. Fortunately, some of the trials over the last few years have brought us closer together, when they very well could have driven us apart. I guess there really is a silver lining in every cloud.

We still have a lot to overcome and accomplish in 2008 and beyond, but I am going into the New Year knowing I am truly blessed. I have my God, my family and some very close friends.
It took me almost as long as George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life”, but I think I have finally realized what a “rich” man I really am.