Happy New Year!

Well, here we are, folks. The requisite movies have been watched; the fireworks have gone off; the ball has been dropped, but not in the usual negative connotation of the phrase. It is now 2006. Let us work together to wrap our minds around this idea, for 2006 is a rather odd-sounding year; it doesn’t have the median ring of 2005 but does not have the aged grace of a 2009 or 2010. But I know that will all come in time.

By God’s grace, 2005 has been very good to me. My first (and probably only) Presidential Inaugural Ball, the providential landing of a job on the Hill and all the fun that entails, various trips to exotic locales such as Charleston, Flint, Evansville, and a surprise trip home to San Diego. I also graduated from college officially… though my mind left PHC a long time ago. I was actually in a wedding for the first time ever. I got my ears pierced (as well as my heart a couple of times)… but with that time, both have healed.

But to be honest, it’s been the little moments that have made this year; ones that I may overlook now, but I think will seem invaluable in five, ten, twenty years. They’re the nights coming home and cooking something while comparing the day’s stories with Allis and Sarah. It’s going to Old Town Alexandria, to our Thai place, just because. The look on Mom’s face when I surprised her at home for her birthday. Walking down Independence Avenue as it started to snow. Being told “this is a really good letter,” and having the opportunity to write a speech for a congressman, and being there when he delivered it. It wasn’t anything grand; it was in a committee room, it played on CSPAN a couple times, and it wasn’t remarkable to many. But it was a dream come true for me.

I’ve lived a charmed life this year. Maybe 2006 will bear more of the same; God only knows. Somehow, this New Year seems different to me. Sure, it will be full of some of the same activities (and certainly as many weddings!) as last year. And yet, maybe this year will be different somehow. It's sort of exciting this time around.

So I resolve to get more sleep on work nights in order to lay off the coffee a bit. To take all four flights of stairs to and from work. To be a more patient and caring roommate. And to remind myself every morning that the day is a gift from God, and should be lived back to Him as such.

Here’s to 2006, dear readers. Cheers!