HAPPY NEW YEAR!

K, so I'm back and work. And, of course, to make me super happy to be back, it's wet and grey and gloomy outside. Yay, I'm back in South Bend. Yay. We got back to town on Saturday and learned some shocking news yesterday. The deacon at our church has brain cancer. Everything happened while we were on vacation so we didn't get the details, but basically, they've flown him back home to Texas where oncologists there will treat him. Needless to say, everyone is praying hard for him. He is such a swell guy. He's only a couple of years younger than I am, which makes it even more distressing because he's so young. He's the pastorial council member on the Social Life Committe with me, so I've gotten to know him pretty well. Just to let you know how cool a guy he is, he makes jokes about Viagra. Anyway, they found the tumor because he was experiencing some numbness in his hand and they did an MRI just to see what was going on. That's when they found the growth; however, they didn't expect it to be cancerous because he's so young. But the biopsy showed that it was, indeed, malignant. As if it couldn't get any worse for him, it's a fast-growing tumor. It's just really shocking to find out something so terrible about someone so good. Anyway, if you feel so moved, spend a couple of seconds sending some good thoughts up to the big guy for Deacon Andy in Texas. I'm sure God will know who you're talking about. Plus, it's good karma. One day you might need a stranger to pray for you. And, seriously, he's one of the good guys and we still need him here.

We also had some tense days over the break because my brother's fiancee's housemate was on vacation in Sri Lanka when the tsunami hit. It took a couple of days before Christina (my brother's fiancee) could get in touch with her housemate's parents to find out that she was OK and trying to get back home. But still, it's overwhelming to think about the level of devastation. Some of the stories coming out of that whole thing. You know, it's like a nuclear bomb went off for those people. One second everything's fine and the next, everything's just gone. We humans think we are in so much control of our lives, and really we're not. It's sobering to say the least.

My New Year's resolution is always the same: get current passports for the three of us. This has been my New Year's resolution for about the last five years. You never know when you might want to just take off. Anyway, it's something I've got to do. This year will be it. I feel it in my bones. Happy New Year everyone.