I'm really looking forward to the New Year. Everything was so new in 2006. It seemed like I was just along for the ride; if somebody decided I should do something that is what I did. Lately I've been trying to take more control of my environment and life. This is good for me but sometimes I think it drives Awesome Chick nutty. It must be an adventure to be married to somebody who is charging through life one minute and sitting down the next with no clue what he was doing the minute before. Of course AC handles it great.

During the last half of 2006 I turned a major corner emotionally. I'm much more accepting of my cognitive disabilities and even enjoy working out those compensatory strategies on my own. I've been coming up with ways that work for me. I've even been doing that in the therapy area to. We found a therapist that listens to what Awesome Chick and I decide is important for us to work on. Then she helps us understand what will help us achieve the results we want. Then we figure out things that fit into our life, our way of doing things and quite frankly things that we enjoy doing that will help achieve the result. It has been over a year since my strokes. I know that the chance of actual healing of my brain is very very low at this point. I also know that the sky is the limit as far as how much the quality of my life can improve and the number of ways that can happen are countless.

My son came home from college for Christmas. Wow was I shocked. He had a beard!!! I wasn't even sure if he was able to shave that peach fuzz I thought he had on his chin. I was also shocked because I've been wearing a beard the last few months, almost the exact same style. The big difference is one of us has a mostly gray beard and one of us has a very dark beard with not a hint of gray. I will leave it to the reader to guess which is which.

My daughter is in the process of starting a new business. She was in catering with her grandfathers