Well folks, here we are near the end of another year. We lost some members, family, friends and gained many along the way this year. How remarkable it is for us to feel we have made recovery our goal to gain as much independence as possible little by little. As always, we have had our share of non-productive days, weeks and months, but there are only 36 days left in this year.

There is strife and wars all over the world in some form or another. People bombing and killing their own people, others involved in accidents, national disasters, and here we are tying to learn how to walk, talk, see and become more productive in life again.

I often wonder where I would be if I were able bodied and not slowed down as I am now? Would I be on a cruise ship?, in a foreign country?, in Iraq?, or here at my house where I feel safe? What ever the answer, I tend to accept what has happen to me for what ever reason it happened. For that reason alone, I'm glad I got the chance to travel and see all the places I did while I was able.

So now at 65 years young, I can be content in my rocking chair telling war stories to my grand and great grand children and about the good old days and all the things we didn't have that they enjoy now. One thing for sure, time waits for no one and is forever changing.

With that said, Christmas is just a month away, so we got more chance to get deeper in debt with those charge cards. I put mine in the drawer two years ago and my balances are just about zero by the end of this year. I got a headache Friday watching all those shoppers swipe their cards. The terminals even got tired and slowed down for a while. I just know there will be some big outstanding balances when they get their December statements.

Well, this is my time to wish everybody a political correct happy holiday and the rest of you around my age, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Here is notice that I will not debate that issue on our message board this year, like I did last year. I have volunteered for extra hours during the month of December, since walmart is closed on Christmas day, starting at 6pm on Christmas Eve. :scooter: