Another Year Goes By - The Changes Stay The Same

So, we're coming up again on another birthday. It makes me think back over the last year and see what's different; what changes have come and how they've affected my life.

This time last year I was still in the Navy, working a boring desk job and hating every minute of it. I was about 20lbs lighter, and didn't know that in two days I would find out that I was going to be a father.

I no longer have that desk job, and thus no income! Luckily we've stashed enough away to live for a little while, during which time I'm trying to breathe life into a business - ever inflated a hot water bottle with your mouth? Kind of like that. Hard, but not impossible. Time's a ticking though, and I figure that if I haven't created income by Christmas, it's time to dust off the ol' resume and hit the streets for your standard 9 to 5'er. Of course, me going to work for someone now would be like trying to pour raindrops back into a cloud. It's possible, but all you get is hail.

My son was born in January, 6 weeks early and had to stay in what I affectionately called a "baby baker" for a few weeks until he finished developing the ability to eat on his own. Born 4lb 9oz, he's 6 months old and over 16lbs. The doctor has officially taken him off the "premie" charts and started sizing him up with the "normies". 6 months old and already being held to a higher standard...who'd have thought? Now, the insurance companies on the other hand have a problem with that 6 week early arrival and refuse to cover him medically - even after a letter from his doctor stating he does not nor ever had any medical issues. Sometimes the "computer says no" mentality really gets my blood boiling.

My wife's birthday is the day before mine, which means she's a year older as well. While I look in the mirror and have slowly seen the face of a spirited young man start to crack and darken, looking whithered and tired, I look at my love and her face is more brilliant than ever. Her smile is as broad as it was when we met, her eyes as loving, caring and devoted, and I wonder what it is that makes her stay so beautiful. It may be a cliche, but I really do think that angels come to Earth to guide us, help us find our way back from the abyss, and I believe she's one of them, whether she knows it or not. Perhaps she worked out a deal with the Big Man to get sent to me, but the deal was they had to wipe her memory of having a harp and wings. She is the most giving person I know, so I have no problem believing she would have said "yes" to leaving heaven if it meant she could help someone as lost as I was.

So there you have it. My many changes and my rock. As for that 20lbs, well, I guess some things may never change.

Sine Metu.