Happy New Year

Dear Diary,

Well, I am a tad late. As you can see, I didn't do a good job posting thoughts in 2010. Will I do better this year? Probably not, but the year is just getting started.

For the most part, I can say my 2010 was a good year. Except for the never ending fear from one day to the next that I might be without a job, I still live it up. I got in four trips last year. One, a regular jaunt down to Gulf Shores. Went on two adventures with Dick - another visit to Annapolis/Baltimore and then to upstate New York. I joined him for his 50th high school reunion in Saugerties. Actually, I attended two school reunions this year - my own 35th. I also got away for a few days to Daytona Beach and St. Augustines. This was my third visit to St. Augustines. I really do like that old city. I still haven't seen everything historical there is to see there.

The most profound event in my life last year was the birth of my great-nephew, Everett. And I am just on the sidelines, but I try to keep up with him daily. He has had a tough first 10 months, but he is a fighter and quite the good natured trooper. I don't get to see him nearly enough, but hopefully he will grow up knowing he is so dear to me.

The other earth moving news in my life is one I have written about already - finding out that my "Uncle Stephan" is actually my older half-brother. He real name is Steven - named after his father. It turns out, when he talks with our Mom, that is what she calls him. I think it was over five months after finding out this family secret that I finally wrote to him. I explained how upset I was about not knowing, especially since he has known most of his life. How I was angry that I missed out on getting to know him since our Mom basically had no contact with him after she move to the States after marrying Dad. My brother actually thought I was being over emotional, but hey, he has had 50 years to adjust already. We have written a couple of other times already, and I have been sending him pictures of my life. He and the rest of my family in Germany have been asking my to make another trip over there. It has been since 1979 and there are so many new family members to meet in person. I would very much like to take that trip. It is just so costly. And the price of gas seems to be on the $4 a gallon route again for this year, so maybe I should have purchased that ticket a couple of months ago.

I also would like to take another road trip with Dick to Minnesota. He has a friend from his early days working in NY who lives there. They still keep in touch. I can plan us a route that will knock off another five states that I haven't been to yet. Did you know that has always been on of my goals - visit all 50 states. I have only 17 more to go. The hardest one to get to will be Alaska (at least I have Hawaii in the bag). It sure will difficult to both take a cross-country trip and fly to Germany. I just need to not shop for any clothes or jewelry for a while, but probably can't put off buying tires for too much longer. Dang it.

Well, my lunch hour is up. Back to work. I will be back again. Just don't know when.

P.S..............and we had a very white Christmas in 2010. Snowed that morning for about 4 hours. It was quite nice. Didn't cause too many problems on the road, so that was good. Funny how we (us Americans) equate cold and snow with making a Christmas special when so many people in the world always celebrate Christmas in the middle of their summer.