And so this is Christmas

 For weak and for strong,

For the rich and the poor ones,

The road is so long.  (John Lennon)

I woke up Tuesday morning, sick as a dog (Not Matteau)......i tried my usual remedy of Jack Daniels with Lemon Tea and Honey and Tylenol, but apparently the China Flu is immune to American Whiskey....and so we were forced to cxl plans for the Eve and Christmas Day, not so much out of an abundance of caution but because we both felt like death soup warmed over.....dry cough, headache, fatigue and General malaise ( Admiral malaise was in a strip bar)....but yet i stand before you this Christmas Eve morn as a very Happy, grateful and truly blessed individual....I chose to focus on all the wonderful things in my life and not feel sorry for myself for missing 48 hours of parties.

One thing i am grateful for is the fact that i do not have work today . I always felt like the Bob Cratchet looser of the year when i had to get on that miserable train on 12/24......it was empty except for a few other losers and a rookie crew that drew the short straw. In the office it was always that bullshit waiting game of hoping they would announce a departure schedule and then trying to scramble to find a holiday schedule train home.....i remember the years of calling around to see what trains my friends (if they were IN ) were catching...and i always had to go to the B and even C list to find someone, ANYONE; to ride the train with.....because the only thing worse than drinking beer on a 90 minute train home on Christmas Eve is doing it by yourself.

In my Navy Years i would always volunteer to take duty on the Eve and Christmas Day for a married guy if we were in port....i remember how grateful some of these guys were.....for them it was a Christmas miracle....for me it was better to remain on ship with all the single guys and pretend it was just another day , than to sit in a gin mill in Jacksonville Beach and be forced to look in the mirror and think about home.

And so today i will smile knowing i am home in my basement bar....a place where i have more whiskey than Lynchburg Tennessee....enough beer to satisfy a hoard of thirsty campers....great food, a warm house, music galore and the nuclear family intact and a warm, fuzzy dog pushing me off the couch. Eeven though i am under the weather, i am grateful for my health; for this too shall pass. In a weird way i am looking forward to 72 hours of drinking, snoozing, eating and watching 90 day fiancé or below deck reruns....

so i wish all my loyal readers the serenity that i am feeling today.....happiness is right here in front of us if we chose to find it.....turn off the news for 3 days and enjoy the good things around us...howver grand or small....it's okay to push back against that dog that is stretching out....just patt his head and cover him with a blankie.

i opened with John Lennon....but i will close with the immortal words of Ringo Starr ( George Harrison may have a writing credit on this one too, not sure)

Peace, remember peace is how we make it,
Here within your reach
If you're big enough to take it.