I guess it’s that time of year to look back on the events of 2008 on a personal level.  It has been a year of ups and downs.

January - March 2008
I found myself ringing in the New Year in Mexico.  It was a great time and much needed.  I had accepted a job with a new company and was starting when I returned from my vacation.  I ended a very long dry spell sexually speaking and that was nice, it made me feel good.  I started my new job but only worked there for a week and then started a second new job.  I was at my new job 4 days and then sent to Baltimore to assist with a training class.  Then next few months consisted of several training classes that I attended for work.  I threw a dinner at my home for my coworkers who were here from all over the world for a two week training class.

April – June 2008
By chance I got in touch with the Chase, we had dated a short time like 16 or 17 years ago.   Things moved very quickly and we both found that we still loved each other after all these years.  I went to Mexico for the annual fishing festival.  Chase came and Pam’s friend Sasha came and we had such a wonderful time!

July – September 2008
Chase moved to Naples to live with and be with me.  It has been a fun and hard at the same time.  I was and still am having a bit of a hard time adjusting to sharing my live and living space with another person.  But I’m working on it.  One of my best friends, Pam, moved to Mexico.

October – December 2008
My friends from Mexico came to visit (Florencia, Constanza, and Maria).  We went to Disney World among other activities and had a wonderful time.  I was so glad to get the chance to have them visit.

Next my mom & dad and aunt & uncle (second mom & dad) came to visit for a few days.  They got to meet Chase but we did not really talk about our relationship.  I have such a great relationship with them and love seeing them.

I went to Mexico and had a terrible time.  The condo was a dump, things in disrepair, lots of things missing, and very dirty.  Got it all cleaned up but it put some stress on my relationship with Pam.  I don’t blame her for everything that was wrong but some things like chickens and chicken shit on the floor were her responsibility since the chickens belong to her kids.  I just thought the unit should be in even better shape than normal since one of the owners was there to supervise things and things were just not what I expected.  She has not spoken to me for like 7 weeks and blames me for something I did not do.  In my heart I know everything will work out and we will move past all the bad parts of this and move forward.  I still cherish her as one of my best friends and know that all relationships have ups and downs and we will get through this.

Chase had a couple of friends visit.  One was here for only a couple of days and he was very nice, I liked him.  The other one was here for like 9 days which was way too long because I did not care for her at all.  If she ever comes to visit again I’ll be nice but I don’t care to spend any time with her.

By now the economy was taking a dump and I’ve lost like 46% of my 401K savings due to the stock market.  Like so many people I’m worried about my job.  My gut tells me that my company will end up making layoffs and I just hope I’m not one of them.  The beginning of 2009 will be very stressful as far as that goes.

I went home for 9 days to the Cleveland, Ohio area for Christmas.  Chase came with me and went to Michigan to visit his family for a few days.  His family are all Jehovah’s Witnesses and don’t celebrate anything.  He is not a JW so he only stayed there a couple of days and came back to my family’s home to celebrate Christmas.  My family was very good to him (in a don’t ask don’t tell way), which made me happy.

So tomorrow night I will be ringing in the New Year with my Cuban family.  I am friends with a big Cuban family that I get to spend holidays with here in Florida.  It is a tradition that I love.  First of all they are all so great and a wonderful group of caring people.  Then the food!  That Cuban food is so delicious!  Then at midnight we have our 12 grapes (for each bong of the clock at midnight and each of the 12 months) to bring good luck for the New Year.  Then the champagne and hugs and kisses abound.  It’s a good way to end and start the year.