It’s been one hell of a year.

Were I a glass-half-empty kind of guy I could go on about the thousands of dollars we’ve blown attempting to get Tracey’s sister out of her abusive relationships and on her own two feet, the psychological toll it took on Tracey, and all the crap that went along with getting her out of Florida and her post-arrival mental breakdown and everything that has gone along with it since.

…Or the passing of Tracey’s dad, our dear friend Jana’s dad, and, most recently, my uncle Wilfred.

…Or hearing the news of several co-workers I worked closely alongside losing their jobs in the several layoffs that took place in my company over this past year.

But I also know that these things are all part of the ebb and flow of life, an important reminder to all of us that, as much as we’d like to think we’re all in control of things and that the world is our oyster and all that sentimental hogwash, the fact is our hold on this life and our own security is quite tenuous and everything can change in a moment’s notice.

I remember driving across west Texas after rescuing my sister-in-law from the horrible situation she had gotten herself into. We were a day and a half out of Florida, and my cell phone was vibrating constantly from her idiot ex-husband, her distraught landlord, and her so-called “latest boyfriend” all frantically trying to speak to her and find out where she was. Tam was sound asleep in the passenger seat, and her rabbits nibbled quietly on the hay we had set down for them on the passenger side floor. All of Texas lay beyond us as our rental car hummed its way across I-10 westward: flat, brown, empty, and I was cursing myself for even allowing myself to be inserted into such a helpless and hopeless situation.

I turned on the radio, hoping to find some form of mild entertainment to pass the time and picked up this song playing on some lonely rural FM station. It made me smile, and helped me realize that, instead of feeling sorry for myself, all of this drama was nothing more than what you would call “life”.

Yep. For all the good and all the bad and all the ugly that has been 2009 – I’ll count the many blessings Tracey and I have been given among the good, fer sure – it all sounds like life to me.