The World According to Mitch

Ok, not about everything…

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… This is certainly one of the most familiar opening lines of any book written since Genesis (which, it should be noted, was not a book at all).  The opening sentence from A Tale of Two Cities can certainly describe the last couple of years of my life.

To look at Facebook, 2016 was the worst year ever.  from the deaths of celebrities from David Bowie and Allan Rickman and Glenn Frey and myriad others, to the nastiest U.S. Election Campaign in history (culminating in the election of who can best be described as ‘The Lesser of Two Evils’) , 2016 was simply a terrible year.

I rang in 2016 at a beach resort in Cuba, with the woman I expected to spend the rest of my life with, having just finished implementing the largest IT project I had ever architected.  My family was healthy, and things were looking good.

January and February of 2016 were certainly good months for me.

Professionally, as well as financially, 2016 were not terrible years for me.  I re-joined and subsequently re-left Microsoft as a contractor… I taught a few classes.  I earned a decent if not spectacular living… but I was able to pay my bills and still put a couple of shekels aside for a rainy day. 

I remembered that while my responsibilities are important, it is also important to live.  So I went on more vacations in 2016 than in any previous year, bar none.  That is to say, trips where I got onto an airplane to a destination where NO work had to be done:

• I went to Cuba over New Year with my (then) girlfriend… Ten days in Paradise, in the Las Tunas province, far from everything but the beach and the bar.
• I went to Las Vegas in May with the same girlfriend (shortly after we got back together following our first breakup) and a couple of friends.  We had some good food, we saw two amazing bucket-list concerts.
• I went twice more to Cuba with a friend (this time to Varadero), with numerous side trips into Havana).

Unfortunately not all was sunshine and cigars… Things with the girlfriend were going so well… until she ended things… twice.  When we got back together she made it clear that we were forever.  Unfortunately Forever didn’t last… in fact it didn’t quite make it to Thanksgiving.  And so I am single again.  I will spare you a retelling of the drama.

My best friend in the whole world… my four-legged friend who always meant everything to me passed away in March.  I do not know if it was the saddest day of the year… yes, I do.  It was heartbreaking to watch him suffer, and to hold him as he closed his eyes for the last time.  I cannot think of anything that made me cry like I did that night.  I also cannot think of anything that made me drink like I did that night. 

While the attachment was not at all like with Jacob, my now ex-girlfriend’s dog passed away a few months later.  Sir Gunter Red-Mane was another wonderful friend, and that was another very sad day.

As a father, it is amazing to watch my children grow, to mature.  It is also very painful to watch their growing pains.  My older son has grown into an amazing 18-year-old who is at a stage where he wants to be a man, but like any kid of that age he does not have all of the tools he needs to be one.  However he has gone off to university, and one day he will conquer the world.

My younger son is a happy little boy who has some issues, and we are dealing with them.  I thank G-d every day for his mother who does an amazing job with him.  I know that I am the ‘weekend Dad’ who gets to have fun with him and watch movies and go out, but she is the one who deals with the times when he is not all smiles and giggles.  She and I may not have been good as a married couple, but I am so grateful to have her as a co-parent.

My health is okay, my weight today (despite all my best efforts) is about 5lbs less than it was a year ago… better than 5lbs up, but still not enough.  That is my continuing struggle.  I have spent a good amount of time working out at the gym over the past year… not as consistent as I need to be, but much better than I could be.

And now, looking forward at 2017, I do not know what will be… I will strive to make it the best year that I can, and hope I can deal with any problems that arise as well as possible.

I know I am 18 days late folks… but Happy 2017 to all of you!