Season's Greetings

Well, Christmas is in two weeks and I haven't done anything to prepare for it. At the moment, I'm scrambling to study for my final, which is this Thursday. Unfortunately, since I took a job at my school, I've had to cut back on making purchases. Ok, so I treated myself to two mini vacations and a few concerts this year, so of course I've already given myself several presents this year! The only person I've bought a gift for is my mother because she's always been there for me. My family and I say every year that we're going to pick names, so this year I pick my mother!


I love this time of year and Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, but now that I'm older, it just doesn't have the same meaning as it used to. I know many people tend to get depressed around this time of year and I'm trying so hard not to be one of those people. I think being in the company of other people, you tend not to think about it as much. This weekend, I went to lunch with a group of women, who I shared one thing in common with: we attended the same high school. In fact, the organizer of the luncheon is one of my brother's good friends. She and the other five women were two grades ahead of me, though they're just one year older than me (there's a story behind this that maybe I'll blog about one day). Even though I knew only two or three of these women, I was happy to be included in their group because you can never have enough new friends!

A few days ago, something prompted me to read one of my local newspapers. As I read one of the articles, it mentioned the name of a high school football coach, who had recently lost his older brother. I immediately recognized the coach's name and as I read on further, I was shocked to find out that his older brother took his own life the day before Thanksgiving. You see, back in the summer of 1989, I had a crush on the older brother, "D". I met him at a popular store I used to shop at and would purposely go in every time I was in the area just so I could see him. I actually got the nerve to talk to him a few times and he seemed like a really nice guy. I'll never forget that he had hazel eyes! {What is it with my love for hazel eyes?!} "D" attended a rival high school in the neighboring city and had just graduated. We got to talking about school and he told me that he was attending college in the next county. I think this crush of mine went on for close to two years and of course I never admitted my feelings to him. One time when my brother & I were leaving the mall, which is where "D" worked, he was approaching us and I said something to the affect of, "Hey, how's it going?" and he responded back. Well, my brother would NOT let me live that line down because (1) I stole it from him and (2) he thought I was using it as a pick-up line towards "D"! My curiosity is bothering me because I want to find out what happened. What's ironic is that I have two close relatives that worked in the same organization as "D", so I'm sure they know something. What's really sad is that he had just celebrated his 37th birthday a few weeks prior and he left behind his wife and two young daughters.


Lastly, last week I found out from my Journalism instructor that the profile I recently wrote about on my guidance counselor will be published in the school newspaper after we return from winter break, in January. Also, the short piece I wrote for the publication I just completed an internship with will be published in their January issue. Well, at least now I'll have more clippings to add to my writing portfolio.

Please enjoy this Christmas flashback from 1994. It's one of my favorite Xmas songs and this video is actually one of two versions, which I recently got to see for the 1st time!