Man, when I clean out my email I never know what I will find. This time I found a speech I gave back in 2008. A couple of the things in it: I don't even remember! But I will share it with you now, in its entirety with no changes. Thank you for reading it!
CTM Speech
“Out With the Old”
Vocal Variety
12/31/08
I don’t know about the rest of you, but for the most part 2008 has been a bad year. I think it was even worse than the year my father died; and that’s saying a lot! So I will be very glad to bid adieu to this year.
Let’s do an honest recap of Rita’s year. I missed quite a bit of work. I was out for 2 weeks in January because of my back. After returning to work, I was out for an additional 2 days when I fell in my parking area at home and bruised my elbow and bounced my head off of my car. But that’s not all! I was out for another week and a half because I got the flu, which I hadn’t had since 1982. The good news about that was I only had the chills, a very high fever, body aches, sore throat and muscle aches. The bad news was: 3 weeks later I was out for another 6 days with the flu part 2! This included what I had missed with part 1, which was the happy go pukies and happy go something else I won’t mention in polite company! I thought I was done at that point: but hadn’t figured that I would sustain quite a bit of physical damage when I moved in September, so there went another 8 days State Farm won’t get back! I managed to bruise a rib, injure my right knee, overstrain my neck, shoulder and back; and was unable to exercise. I guess that explains why my “thinness” looks the way it does now...
In 2008, I lost several friends. Johnny died first at the end of March. Boy do I miss him! I was in Illinois on business when I received the phone call from his best friend; and at that time you couldn’t get a flight out of O’Hare for love nor money so I missed his funeral. Next was Harry, a guy I had gone to school with and was one of my brother’s best friends. Less than 2 weeks later, during the same month of May, Jimmy died. I had known him since junior high; and he was the one who used to drive me to the “club” when I was 16! Two weeks after that: I received a phone call that Dan had killed himself. That one hurt a lot; we had dated off and on for about a year and although he had spoken of suicide, I honestly thought that he was getting better. Jim died over the summer and by that time I was like “enough already!”. Thankfully, the rest of my male friends have remained alive.
The place where we were living had become untenable; and was truly sucking the life out of us. Between the drug dealer upstairs, his cousin making meth in the basement, people knocking on our doors thinking we were the sellers, the ceilings leaking courtesy of the upstairs neighbors: life in Glens Falls turned into a nightmare. I spent a lot of time wondering how I had gotten to such a place in my life; and was wondering when it was going to get better.
And then: there’s the return of Gabriella. Or rather, the second coming of Gabriella. She moved back home for good in January, then went back to Washington in April. Then she came back once again in June; and the rest is history. If you don’t believe me: just go upstairs. She’s sitting right in Auto in the mail unit!
And hard as it might be to believe: I even fell in love in 2008. Of course, the person doesn’t know it, which makes it kind of hard. But trust me: if he ever gets wind of my feelings he’ll be a very happy man. That is, if he can get out of his own way and open up to the idea of a relationship again; because he’s had a tough year too.
So now here we are on the cusp of 2009. It’s time to clean house. I’m not planning on bringing any of my previous “bad” stuff into the New Year. For instance, all of my male friends are in good health, so I’m optimistic that they’ll stay that way. We moved in September to a wonderful new residence, so no more potential for the house to blow up or to view a drug deal gone bad. My doctor has released me to go back to exercising (and not a moment too soon!) so I should be back to my original fighting form within a few months. My health is good and God willing I won’t be injuring my back again. And since I have a big-girl bed as opposed to the twin I had for over 7 years: I should be sleeping like a baby on a cloud now that the other stuff is taken care of.
As for the object of my affections: I think we’re going to have a talk in the New Year, and see how that goes. We already spend time together and we’ve been friends for quite awhile. And before you start speculating: no, it isn’t a fellow ‘farmer!’
If 2008 taught me anything, it’s that life is too short to waste time. For the new year, if I want to do something: I’m going to do it. If I want to express an opinion: I’m going to say it. If I want to say no: I’m going to say it! I’m not going to worry about what others think about me. I’m going to embrace who I am and love me more than I have in the past. It’s about time!
If I were the type to still make resolutions, I guess they would go something like this:
Be fit
Be healthy
Be happy
Be published
Now that isn’t a lot to ask for, is it? I’m looking forward to a new year with hope and optimism. I hope you are too.