Lookit -- I love me a list. I love me a countdown. So I really really love me a list that is ALSO a countdown. In other words, here is the EIGHTH (!) annual "best of" list looking back at the SEVENTEEN best things of 2017 (as always, presented in alphabetical order) ...
1.) BEING WOKE AND RESISTING: Just sayin'. I refuse to drink the kool aid -- from *either* kool aid stand. But I also refuse to follow the crowd who can't see that the emperor has no clothes. I embrace independent thought ... and power to the "other" ... and anyone who over-uses labels to dismiss that which they refuse to understand can simply #stfu. By the way -- how many damn times this year did I console myself by blasting P!nk's 'What About Us' to remind myself that there were more who felt the same way.
2.) (C): Who'd have thunk it ... but we're almost at the 20th anniversary mark (stop back to the blog/the Facebook near the end of Sep 2018 for more details). Obligatory disclaimer: that's only assuming the now-gall-bladder-less-one can stay out of the hospital for more than a year at a time in order to truly celebrate.
3.) CASANOVA and OZZIE: Quite simply, they are the best puppies (although at the age of four human years, they probably aren't really puppies any more) ... And they are proof that you don't always plan for who will come into your life at what time ... but that you need to be open to accept those who will give you unconditional love at unexpected moments.
4.) ECLIPSE, 2017 edition: This is not to be confused with the 2024 edition (obviously, since that is still seven years away). Me and mine spirited away to Atlanta (actually, I think we southwested) and drove to the zone of totality to observe the natural phenomenon on the side of the road at an abandoned gas station that seemed like the set of 'The Walking Dead'. Regardless, it was THE most impactful just-under-three-minutes-of-the-year, what with how it proved how small we (and our problems) were in so grand a universe.
5.) IRMA, the HURRICANE: Finally ... I got to experience an honest-to-goodness hurricane (although some would argue that the winds, once they hit the FTL as part of the "dirty quadrant", were more like a serious tropical storm). We still miss all of the greenery we lost in the back yard, but seeing as how our power came back within 36 hours of the storm, that afternoon spent living life "Little House on the Prairie style" (i.e. reading by the light that came through the window) was memorable since we all survived with minimal damage.
6.) JOB CHANGE (yet again): For the third time in seven years, my position with my company was eliminated. But, just like twice (not thrice) before, I was lucky enough to have another role lined up for me into which I could transition. Here's hoping this one sticks for just a little bit longer ...
7.) KITTENS (2for1 RESCUE): No one anticipated that the "family" would grow by two kittens last year. But in the midst of a week long rain storm a few weeks prior to the hurricane, there was a yammering and a yowling out in the back yard that drew our attention. A little stray kitty was spotted in the section of the yard known as "no man's land", but despite our best efforts to get her to come in out of the rain (where "best efforts" equaled pieces of turkey lunch meat), she didn't trust us. Cut to two days later, and the same howling was heard from within the car engine in the front yard. Luckily, that time we were able to grab the abandoned kitten who was making all the noise .. .and, much to our surprise, she had her quiet little brother with her. By year's end, they were an unexpected, unplanned-for part of the family.
8.) QUINT CHERRY CHERRY WHISKEY: Let's be clear -- I haven't given up on my Guinness. But when it comes to being the old man who used to bar crawl but now drinks at home a night or two a week, a Red Stag cherry whiskey with five cherries does the trick. And by "trick", I mean makes a middle aged guy play sappy songs from his CD and cassette collection on the regular.
9.) SAN FRAN 10 YEARS LATER: In 2007, me and mine visited San Fran for the first time with some bowling buddies of ours ... and in 2017, I got to return as part of a "subsidized vacation" that doubled as an entry in the "chasing the Super Bowl" tradition (long story short -- my work held its annual conference in Vegas each year in the week after the Super Bowl, and so with a little careful finagling, something extra special could be arranged as a part of those travels). This trip, ten years after my first visit, I got to see the Golden Gate bridge (and super belated thanks to my relative Suzanne M C, who picked me up at the airport.).
10.) SHANNON D and the VEGAS BOWLING ALLEY: Lookit -- I'm not a-scared of admitting when true emotion takes over. At that work conference of mine, I distinctly remember chatting with my former supervisor Shannon D between frames at the company outing, and I also remember that I had to apologize for the tears flowing freely as we chatted. What she didn't know at the time was that one of my most passionate papers that I wrote for Professor Kearney's Family Law class during my law school years was about how the "system" was too quick to separate siblings caught up in the trappings of the process because so few potential parents could handle multiple adoptions of children from the same family. Shannon, though, accepted that challenge when she grew her family through adoption, and, in retrospect, it was no wonder that I was so emotional when catching up with her -- seeing as how I was in the presence of an angel.
11.) SURPRISE CHER CONCERT: That company meeting in Vegas I just referenced? It just so happened to coincide with the certain premier of a certain classic performer's latest Vegas show.. And it just so happened that I got a call in the middle of the conference from a dear college friend (see #13 below) who let me know that she had two tickets to the opening night of said concert. And that, dear readers, is the short version of the story equivalence to me winning the lottery.
12.) TOAD the wet SPROCKET in the FTL: I spent the 90's in college -- and, yes, just in case you don't know me and my story well enough, I do kind of mean I spent that WHOLE decade at my undergrad. And that's why I thank the guys from TOAD for providing the soundtrack of some of the most formative years of my life. Now that they are touring again, I try not to miss any chance to see them ... and just a few weeks ago -- they were in MY town for a show locally that took me back to some of the best years of my life.
13.) VISITATION: ERIN (M) L: Here's the rule ... when you are in the same town as someone from your past, you HAVE to connect. We call it #forTara, named after a former LVC classmate of ours who embraced that concept ... and who passed unexpectedly shortly after one of her visits. Since then, there's a group of us who honor her memory by making sure that connections are maintained. In 2017, Erin and I connected *twice* -- when she called me up out of the blue with the aforementioned Cher tickets in Feb when I was in Vegas for work ... and again in December when she was in my neck of the woods for a family cruise and we got to "do lunch".
14.) VISITATION: HOLLY and JYM: This is not the first time that Holly has appeared on my year end best lists. Knowing how challenging a year this was for her in her personal life as she suffered a family loss, I will choose to focus on the few days she made it down here ... and to the good times we shared for a few hours that culminated in an evening walk out a pier to enjoy the sunset over the Atlantic Ocean, each of us surrounded by those we loved. I understand why she wants to forget 2017, but I have to selfishly hope that her efforts to remove the year from her memory do NOT include the time she and her husband spent visiting with me and mine.
15.) VISITATION: TAMSIN: If you count your blessings by enumerating the times you were privileged to spend valuable time with quality individuals (and I do) ... then the tally goes up by one for 2017 due to Tamsin's visit. We got to bask in some local nature ... we got to eat some local vegan food (which was a bit out of my comfort zone) ... and we got to engage in conversations that had simply been put on pause for a decade or two "Good times", as the kids say: "good times"!
16.) VISITATION: WALT and DOLLY and JAC: The ONLY thing that makes the separation from the Indiana family that results from moving across the country even remotely palatable is knowing that family will visit once a year. In 2017, we may have had a slightly less busy itinerary for these visits ... but that just left more room for the games of Yahtzee or Michigan Rummy at the end of the day that we will never be able to recreate. And don't even get me started on how lucky we were to have our nephew Jac K visit not once but TWICE in 2017 to hang out and experience the best that SoFlo has to offer.
17:) YOU: These are trying times, full of division and focus on what separates us instead of what unites us. However, I refuse to let others dictate my world view. Sure -- I have my days where it's hard to bite my tongue and to not try to comment on those that seem so misguided in their misplaced righteousness. But I do my best to rise above all of that ... and I appreciate all of you for being you -- I see your triumphs and your sorrows, your successes and your challenges, your blessedness and your heartache ... and I am thankful to have you in my e-life.
Therefore: 2017, memorialized as you have just been, you will NOT be missed (because I'll always have the memories from the year that was and I'll always be able to refer back to this post to remind me) ...
