You took long enough, didn't you?

Thought you could avoid the inevitable, didn't you? Nice try, sir. Not this time. Not when I need you. Not when I'm count­ing on you. Many things may have fallen away as of late, but I knew you would come. You had no choice.

You come at a time where I stand at a cross­roads. You come when I'm as unsure about things as I've ever been. You come when I'm alone.

As I sit here, I'm find­ing myself won­der­ing what you have brought with you. Will you answer many of the ques­tions that your pre­de­ces­sor left with their depar­ture? Will you make life any eas­ier, any harder?

Will I still feel alone?

* * *

The year two-thousand-six is one that I'll remem­ber as a whirl­wind of accom­plish­ments, mis­takes, and $foo in between. In ret­ro­spect, the major­ity of it wasn't so bad, but I cer­tainly could have done with­out the tail-end of it.

I'm still healthy. I still have a job that a) pays the bills, and b) makes me happy. I still have a won­der­ful cir­cle of friends; most of whom, unfor­tu­nately, are one or two time­zones away. I still have a great girl who cares for me. I still have food, shel­ter and clothing.

I still want more.

I've taken some impor­tant steps over the last 365 days, but I've done so with the knowl­edge that there are many more to take. I'm look­ing for­ward to tak­ing them, even if they do scare the absolute hell out of me.

I just wish I didn't have to take them alone. But what can you do, except to just go ahead and do it.

* * *

Yes, you took long enough. I could have used you months ago; but nonethe­less, you're here now, and that's what's impor­tant. I'm glad you're finally here. It's time to get to work.

Wel­come, two-thousand-seven.

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