Updated
January 1, 2002
Looks like 2002
is in full swing already for us around here -- We just got back from
my friend Dow's farm for the holiday and are cleaning up, packing
things away and generally getting a fresh start to the new year.
As I was thinking
last night about the year that passed and the one to come, I had to
think how this was, in many cases, one of the best and worst years
for me and for my family. Bittersweet truly labels the year that passed;
what will be to come?
2001
Looking back
at this time last year, we were again just coming back in town from
Dow's, but there were only three of us. Porter wouldn't show up in
family photos until the end of January. At the time, I was still on
my first project with the new company, Stonebridge, working with the
guy who would eventually be Porter's godfather, and another guy that
wouldn't be with the company by the end of the year.
I quickly found
that the life of a consultant is never routine -- coming back from
being out for Porter's birth, I ended up working project management
/ engagement lead work at a hospital here near my house. I spent a
few months there and rolled out of the project long enough to do a
bit of self-training and business development for a project that never
really materialized.
What did materialize
about that time, though, was Tropical Storm Allison -- we were so
lucky at our house! All around us, homes and businesses we frequented
were sloshing water out the doors, assessing the damage that would
eventually number the high millions. We took a walk around the neighborhood
and up to the Village shopping center the day the rain finally stopped
and we saw entire cars and even dumpsters moved hundreds of feet from
where they started in the rain.
We thought the
great flood would be the story of the year.
Right after that,
I jumped on a plane for a quick three-week engagement working on the
layout and design of a trader portal interface for a client in Tulsa,
OK. Six months later I was still there. Katie, Jackson, Porter and
I learned how to live as a family three days a week -- And I learned
that a person can miss so much being away.
In the middle
of that stint the real story of the year emerged on September 11th.
I'll always be changed and I'll always consider myself blessed. Many
of the people that died that day were just like me -- How can we ever
be the same?
But yet, we are
-- Katie and I have a family to raise, and in just 30 days have a
First Birthday to preside over! We have a precocious two year old
whose favorite phrase right now is, "No, Daddy!" (but he's
working on "No, Mommy!" too.) Our daily lives, thankfully,
have a comforting sense of normalcy and stability -- that 'sameness'
-- which is important in families.
Our children
will continue to grow into true little boys over the next year, and
Katie and I will hopefully still continue to learn how to be the parents
Jackson and Porter need us to be. What does 2002 hold for us? I'm
not sure, but I know that with Katie, my boys, and faith in God --
and His blessings -- things will work out fine.
Now it's time
to get ready to roll back into the swing of things at school, work
and the rest of it all --
