[BDBopper]

Well we are just days from saying adios to 2008 and ringing the New Year of 2009! With a new year comes new expectations, plans, dreams, challenges, and experiences. What do you think and/or hope for the New Year?

While 2008 has been a rough year on a national/global scale I must look back at it in a very positive light. It's been an amazing year for me. No, I haven't found great wealth but I am rich with what really matters in life. My cup runneth over! 2009 shapes up to be even more fantastic in this department. For the first time in years I look towards my future with a sense of renewed hope and optimism. While I always look on the bright side of life it has been really hard in the past few years to feel that way towards the future. In past years I may have known what was right ahead of me but I still felt as if was going nowhere. My life received the spark I so desperately needed this year. While I may not know exactly where my life is headed next year and thereafter, I know the general direction and it excites me.

I hope that next year will bring me and y'all together in person and right now I am almost certain of its likelihood. There is only one way that it won't happen and that would be if the direction my life is taking dictates it (if I go farther down the road faster than I currently anticipate).

Please excuse me for being vague. I do so to keep this thread focused on its intent In other words I don't want it derailed right away...although I know it will happen for some reason. I am just delaying the inevitable.