As We Leave the Ninth Month

November was a good one for me and my family. I saw the tyrant of a congressman get his head handed to him on a platter, the president get rebuked by a country of moderate realists and I watched my son learn to talk in sentences and grow into a more beautiful young man. I grew more frightened, however, for my country and its future seeing how foreign events threaten not only its stature in the world but its security by the stupidity and ineptitude of idealistic and foolhardy leaders. I walk lighter knowing that for the first time in my adult life that the Democratic Party will be able to rein in a president but shiver when I watch the Middle East further self destruct.

When did a Honda Odyssey get so darn cool looking? I'm also contemplating the Toyota and the Hyundai but wonder if I should name my car Homer if I buy the former brand. I think this is the longest I've gone without purchasing a cd since I don't remember. It's been just about the longest I've gone without seeing a show since moving up to Brentwood, though I do have the privilege of ending that next month by catching McCoy Tyner again. I vowed to pass on his next visit to Yoshi's, but he's playing with Christian McBride, Joe Lovano on tenor and Jeff 'Tain' Watts on drums.

I'll be opening up a lemonade stand in order to save my pennies for the E Street Band Tour next year, though I really believe the gods of music will have Bruce rounding the West Coast when my wife's in labor with Sacco and Vanzetti. Figures, right?

As we enter the holidays, I'm finding a renewed sense of faith and understanding in my religious beliefs. Not blind ridiculous superstitious idiocy but a calmness about the history and tenets of my faith that bring me to question so many things and strengthen my resolve about so many others. I see my family growing; I see my brother's family doing the same. I see my friends and family love me and those hate me receive their own forms of justice. I'm watching my life reach its middle age and I'm quite comfortable in the pace I'm achieving but still seeking to better myself and hope for a better future. I love my life and thank God for each day, even those that make me drink my sorrows and anger away. Existentialism doesn't get any better than this, does it, my self-centered navel-gazing self, does it?