This was an awful year. It is about time for the new one.

I realize that there are people here with worse problems and difficulties than me. So I won't belabor mine.

We have financial, medical, relationship and social problems here in MyBloggerstown, and we all suffer from one thing or another. The Holiday season is the time when we try to put all that behind and gird our loins to move ahead.

That can be very difficult to do when your checking account is empty or your car is broken down or your pet is dying or your days and nights are so lonely it makes you want to run away from it all.

But...

There will be a tomorrow. Count on it.

Blogging helps. It offers us a way to get it off our chests. It offers a way to "talk" to friends who help us get through the rough times. It offers a way to discover that we are not alone.

I appreciate what you all mean to me. I savor these moments with you, whether you know or don't know that I have read your posts.

I appreciate you whether you voted for my guy or the other one. I appreciate you whether you are straight, gay, Asian, Russian, Mississippian, New Yorker, a Steeler fan or a Browns fan, male or female, liberal or conservative, dog or cat.

I feel your pain and elate in your happiness. I am moved to a tear by you and I crack a big grin with you.

2009 may or may not be a better time for you and for me, but it will soon be here. I hope you all will be here, too.

Happy New Year!

.....

So what's with the Rembrandt avatar? Well, I had a date last Saturday and the lady has taken to calling me "Rembrandt." So it's just for funny.