Bonus Post: Thing 5125

5125 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending:

Thing 5125:

File this under ... JUST KIDDING!  

I briefly thought that maybe the Mayans were right and they just had the wrong "long count" when it comes to the world's end ... which would allow me to keep on going for another 5125 days, the length of their astronomical calendar.  By my rough calculations, that would take me to 2025-2026, and surely by then we would have all found the way to kill each other and this series would have more dramatic heft than how this all played out.  But no, I will allow that artistic endeavor to stand as a complete series, and I'll wait for the next whisper I might hear from my creative muse -- and I still have my weekly day-by-day posts to keep me busy!  

I had a blast, and I stand by every word even though the world didn't end.  Thanks again to any and all who paused to find the posts contained therein!

Bonus Post: Thing 1

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 1:

File this under a desire to just go on the record about something ... but if it is, indeed, finally our last hours (by the way, as I type this, it's already 12.21.12 in certain parts of the world -- I'm not sure if those Mayans took a world view or were just referencing their own time zone) ... it's probably time to "get right with God".  SO ... dear God ... it's me, Troy.  You probably remember me more from when I was younger and heavily involved in Methodist activities (that sounds like I was in the mob, no?), or before that in that little church in the country that was independent and slightly more ... um ... unusual ... or possibly even from those Christmas Eves in the last decade when the family went to mass in Indiana because the nephews were in Catholic school and we were being supportive.  I'm not sure what you have up your immortal sleeves for tomorrow (and why you only told the Mayans, who apparently were more into nature gods than into you), but if the New Madrid fault starts shakin' during the day tomorrow due to sudden magnetic pole reversal, or if the fact that we're astronomically going to a darker side of the galaxy as part of your overall orbital plan and that fact causes some kind of life-altering incident on this planet, there's a good chance that I'll be calling out your name. I know that you'll probably be extra busy, but if you get a chance to spare me so that I can experience the post-apocalyptic world, that would be just swell.  By the way, I also have met a lot of people along the way in my life who practice different faiths (or no faith at all), and I would appreciate it if you maybe could keep an eye out for them too (and, hopefully, they're asking their God to do the same tonight, so that way all of our collective spiritual bases will be covered -- have I ever told you I'm a hedge-better extraordinaire?) ... 

Oh and one more thing -- could you tell that fool who keeps on promising that the rapture is happening on a day of HIS choosing to check a little Matthew 24:36 to be reminded that "no man shall know the day or hour" ... And not to pile on -- but just one more favor.  It seems one of your fallen angels has infiltrated a group called Westboro Baptist and has so twisted your message that they now seem to be doing Satan's work.  Any chance you could find a way to stop that -- me (and most of the sane world) would be much appreciative.  [And it just struck me that I hope you're a reader of my blog and/or somehow checking my Facebook statuses or Twitter feed ... as that's the modern way we all communicate, just in case you're not as hip as I think you are.  A few crazies tend to throw around Leviticus a lot as if you'd never update yourself with the times -- but I'm sure it's their shortsightedness and not yours.  And you let the Pope tweet, so you must be up to speed ...]  

Ok ... that's it for tonight ... except to say thanks for bacon (not all of the people who follow you seem to think it's okay to eat, but I know you wouldn't have made such crispy deliciousness that goes so perfectly well with just about everything and then expect us to ignore it) ... and thanks for your time ... and I hope to not be talking to you tomorrow, if you catch my drift!  P.S.  A lot of people continue to die because they think that they are the only ones who know how you work and expect everyone else to follow them and only do exactly what they say ... seems like if you could find a way to clarify things, there would be a lot more peace in the world.  And by "clarify", note that I do NOT mean "cause an apocalypse".  Good night ... and sweet dreams!

Bonus Post: Thing 2

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 2:

File this under confessions ... but I have no idea where the time has gone.  Why it seems like just yesterday that I started this countdown (it was actually Sep 12), and here it is so close to the end of the world (maybe).  A few things ... I'm sure glad that the destruction will be sudden, as that has apparently allowed me to post right up to the very end, with Al Gore's interwebs holding steady irrespective of polar pole swapping or asteroids descending or solar flares a flarin' (I feel a mock up of the 12 days of Christmas coming ...).  Actually, the tenets I provided for this whole 100 days concept 36 days ago in Thing 38 still holds true -- I'm 95% sure that the world really isn't ending in less than 40 hours, my list did not include everyone who has impacted my life (Jen A, I promised to mention you here!), placement on the list is not correlative to importance to me (contrary to what you say, Chris L) and my stated goal was to hopefully inspire someone who was reading this to share something that might have been long overdue when it comes to needing to be  said, as life is much shorter than we think (maybe maybe maybe even two days from being over).  So in the waning hours of this project (or this existence we're sharing), let me issue a blanket statement to those for whom I just ran out of time -- "A heartfelt thanks to [insert your name] for being special to me by [insert deeply heartfelt, somewhat sappy, or, very rarely, mean-spirited comment about how you influenced my life]."  And to everyone, whether called out by name or not --  I believe that we are a sum total of all of the experiences we've had and all of the people we've met (so long as we keep our eyes, hearts and minds open), with something to be learned from each and every one of them (positive or not), and thus I'm grateful to you for being a part of my life.  Godspeed on your journey to whatever is next for  you and for all of us!  Happy Mayan Apocalypse to you and yours!!

Bonus Post: Thing 3

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 3:

File this under bet you didn't know the influence you had over me ... but with just three days left until the end of the world (allegedly) and with my countdown winding up rather quickly and with my life flashing before my eyes (well -- maybe not "flashing" since I've been doing this for the past 97 days, so maybe more like my life is "plodding" before my eyes), today seems like a perfect day to thank the three guys in my life who helped shape me.  You see, I was born into a den of women (four older sisters in my first family), and lived many of my formative years in a bigger den of women (two sisters, two step-sisters and a half-sister, to be genealogically accurate) with a pretty distant father who was den master of both living arrangements, so it's no surprise that I looked up to a few people who had a Y chromosome like me once I got out on my own and starting fully forming my personality in the early 90's.  So to the three of them -- Jarrod S and Darren L and DJ W -- thanks for providing me with the guy POV as I went on my own journey from boy to man.  Not in some creepy Silence-of-the-Lambs way, but I did manage to take bits and pieces of each of you and work them into who I am today.  And for that, I am thankful.

Bonus Post: Thing 4

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 4:

File this under "hey -- remember when you changed my life" ... but now that we're just four days out (which means the hourly countdown is now no longer in the triple digits) ... and with the end of this project squarely in sight, let me pause and reflect that I couldn't even begin to imagine where I would be in this life that may (or may not) be ending at the end of this week, had I not had the generous Judy W in my life.  As I understand it, she was inspired by a program at her church, but no party involved could have imagined that she'd so quickly and so legally become the guardian of a 17 year old high school runaway -- or, at least that's the clinical description of what she became back in 1989.  What she really became was a parental figure who provided guidance and love and direction to a soul in danger of being lost, and what she really provided was a "home" -- a safe place where I could discover who I was and to which I could return until I one day "grew up" and made one of my own.  What she did -- she changed my life.

Bonus Post: Thing 5

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 5:

File this under love ya like a brother, man ... but Ben W, I'm not coming home in the next five days, which means, if the world really is ending ... then this is it.  As I "said" to Corey yesterday in a post -- here's a toast to you and to the lifetime of events that we somehow seemed to squeeze into such a short time. Here's to frat house living at its finest (even if you and your friends were the youngest group to arrive), figuring out that you like to accelerate going into a curve when you're learning how to drive, finding out that some of Aerosmith's songs were covered by the Beatles (or is it the other way around?), enjoying the hell out of Cedar Point, giving up your ferret to me for adoption, or any of the other memories that seem like they just happened yesterday (I won't repeat my favorite story about you telling me to follow in your footprints in the deep snow at the top of the rockpile, although, I guess I kind of just did).  Like that which you've inked on me, the bond's for a lifetime.  For all that we've been through Bennie  ... here's to you!

Bonus Post: Thing 6

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 6:

File this under love ya like a brother, man ... but Corey W, if Friday is the end (yep, it's down to six days so I can call it "Friday" and it is clear to everyone that I'm talking about the next [or is that the "last"] Friday that we'll all have together), then I won't get to see you again.  So here's a toast to you (would that I could find Purple Passion -- that's the name of the celebratory drink when you won your wrestling matches, right? -- which was every time as you went undefeated, no?) and to the lifetime of events we somehow squeezed in to so few years.  Here's to trips to the rockpile and  frat house living at its finest (whether in the town house or next to Big Bertha herself) with all that that entailed, but most importantly -- here's to you for the way you accepted me into the family.  The parties have come and gone, but the memories are as if they were just yesterday, and the bond -- well that's for a lifetime.   For all that we've been through ... here's to you!

Bonus Post: Thing 7

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 7:

File this under unsung heroes about whom songs should be sung ... but Laura W (and Denny W ... who is not on the Facebook), if time stops in seven days as the Mayans maybe-kind of-possibly predicted (oh my goodness ... that's next Friday!), then let me be sure to take a moment tonight to thank you both for what you've done for so many.  I know I'm just one of the "strays" that found his or her way into your orbit (courtesy of DJ, may he rest in peace), but you (plural) have given so much so that others could be happy and have done so without demand for attention.  Being fiercely protective of your brood -- whether human or animal, making sure to love folks unconditionally and having had to struggle with adversity and loss that none should have had to have faced, you are examples for others who need to observe how to have strength and courage and tenacity and perseverance no matter what comes.  With fond memories of family get-togethers and of resting so comfortably in your living room chair (usually with a dog in my lap) that Bennie mentioned it was one of only two places he ever saw me completely and totally relaxed (the other was at JoAnne's house in Uniontown) and of a holiday box full of goodies the year I spent Christmas alone holed up at the theatre housing in Philly ... Laura and Denny W, tonight, we sing your praises (and wish you and yours the happiest of holidays and easiest of end-of-world scenarios)!

Bonus Post: Thing 8

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 8:

File this under confessions ... but as the days and hours tick away until the apocalypse, I have to admit to myself that I may never get to fulfill my personal quests.  And hey, contrary to the way some of my posts may sound, I really don't have overly grandiose goals here about which I speak (I may have grown up to be a more modern version of the slacker, with just a touch of type A personality that can be turned on when needed) ... I'm talking about not yet having dipped my toes into every Great Lake ... and not yet seeing all of the Presidential Libraries/Museums/Birthplaces ... and not yet buying a t-shirt and set of shot glasses from every HardRockCafe ... not to mention my arrested plan to visit the countries' biggest cities alphabetically.  Should I somehow survive the suffering ahead, I'm going to have start moving double time on some of these tasks -- and then maybe move on to some bigger ones like somehow getting out of debt and somehow putting all of my writing ideas down to paper and somehow finding a way to get all progenic once or twice prior to my hitting the half century mark.  I'm beginning to think that the old life-flashing-before-your-eyes thing for me might be full of things I haven't yet done.  Of course, I have the majority of the other 100 posts to distract me with all the things I have done and people I have met and stories I have collected along the way.  So ... I'll choose to have a glass-half-full apocalyptic attitude after all.

Bonus Post: Thing 9

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 9:

File this under a desire to just go on the record about something ... but with 9 days left until the end of the world (maybe) ... [and note -- to those confused individuals, don't get it twisted -- 12.12.12 was just the last of the triplicate days we get to experience for being alive at the beginning of a new century -- it is NOT the date that we slip into the dark side of our galaxy (the driving astronomical fact behind the end of the Mayan calendar) as that's in 9 days] ... I should probably go on the record with my Dad and Mom.  First, biological father of mine -- whereas the step-creature once tried to sow seeds of doubt that it was indeed your sperm that fertilized my mother's egg -- my middle aging has proven our genetic kinship as I start to look more and more like you as the years go by.  I've already made my peace with the life you chose (and, let's face it, I was one of the last kids you sired, so the generation canyon that separates us is pretty much the story of the distance we have in our lives), and I said my goodbyes when I was last home and you first went on hospice this past summer with expectation that your untreatable cancer would spread.  [Of course, true to our shared stubborn genes, you're still kicking and fighting and harassing those patient patient souls in the nursing home ... and who am I to wish you anything but many more months of the same.]  Second, to my moms (who is not on Facebook and I don't think is necessarily even on the interwebs) -- please accept my apologies for not being closer to you.  It's just that I was so young when the divorce happened, and I was used as such a pawn in the adult games that followed (including apparently being manipulated into getting your visitation rights cancelled, which, in turn, led to your departure from the locale), that I just don't know you well enough.  I have every understanding that you still care for me, and I know that, as I hit middle age, I've had an opportunity to reconnect yet have struggled to do so, but please please  please don't take it personally.  It's just how we've all played the cards that have been dealt us.  And please know that I'm happy and loved and well taken care of -- and have been for many years by many many individuals.  So if it all ends in nine days for any or all of the three of us ... let's find comfort that we've each survived in our own ways and we've each found a way to thrive in our own rights and we're comfortably ready for whatever the future brings (whether the apocalypse happens or not).

Bonus Post: Thing 10

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 10:

File this under "hey -- remember when you changed my life"... but now that we're in the final stretch of the countdown to the end of the world (10 days!  that's just over 200 hours!), I want to be sure to thank Wendy W for what she did for me when I was a senior in high school.  When I finally ran away in March of 1989 (as a young 'un with a January birthday, I was still only 17 since I had started kindergarten a little earlier than many of my classmates), it was Wendy, who sat in front of me in English (and whom I had known throughout my school years), who heard of my plight (I had spent the first night at my best friend's house and the next week at the home of the one who was kind of my girlfriend at the time but was so unsure of what the future held), and who, out of nowhere, coordinated with her mother (more about her in just a few days) what was to become my new (or is that my "first") home.  And for those first few uncertain months and then throughout college and beyond (remember, I did so enjoy college that I turned it into a decade long project), it was an honor to have her so unselfishly accept me as a part of her family.  So besides saying how proud I am of her life path and her career work and her growing family, I also say, quite simply but quite "from the bottom of my heart"-ly ... thank you.

Bonus Post: Thing 11

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 11:

File this under great appreciation ... but if the world does end in 11 days as predicted by some, then I'm going to miss me a mess of Chuck Lorre shows on the TV.  And no ... this isn't a sympathy post in light of the string of bad publicity he's had on his shows over the years (and to bastardize a phrasing that hit the interwebs of late but without a Jim Jones-ish figure nodding his head next to me as I express MY opinion, let me just say -- if you are not already watching his work, you MUST start catching this f ... frivolity) -- nope, not sympathy but true fan appreciation for the Dharma and the Greg and the Charlie and the Walden and the Alan and the Jake and the Sheldon and the Leonard and the Mike and the Molly to whom I've been introduced these past few years  -- and for all of the other characters that populate his shows that are just too numerous to mention in a name-dropping fashion -- and for the creative personality that is on display in his vanity cards (note:  if the world lasts until Christmas despite what we've been told, that book of his would look might fine under my tree) -- and for the inside jokes that he manages to pepper in story lines across all of his comedic platforms -- and for the smile after smile after smile to which I can give him and his genius so much credit ... to laugh is to grow is to heal is to foster humanity is to all that is a Chuck Lorre creation.

Bonus Post: Thing 12

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 12:

File this under long overdue thanks ... but with just a dozen days left until the (maybe) end of the world, Mrs. K (the college edition), thanks for everything you did for me while I was at LVC.  [Tangent -- how ironic is it that I had a Mrs. K in high school who looked out for me AND a Mrs. K in college who did the same -- for those keeping track of the letters connected to my guardian angels, that's Keesey for LHS and Kujovsky for LVC.]  It was more than just the part time job you gave me for work study in the library for all those semesters ... and more than just the graduation gift you gave me (I still have that Bible in my collection) ... and more than just the fact that you actually let me live in the space I created in the old storage room across from the pay phone in the building for those months before it was remodeled (when I say "I lived at the library in college", I mean it quite literally!) ... it was for caring about my development across all fronts as a human being and for investing your time in my future.  Thanks so much!

Bonus Post: Thing 13

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 13:

File this under ... actually -- first let me step back a minute and put this in perspective ... but since day one hundred, you've been angling for which day would be yours and how small the number would be and what would be messaged and exactly what I would say ... so let's start with how many of the boxes I can check off now that we're down to just 13 days left until our world ends ... we could start with file this under long overdue thanks ... or file this under great appreciation ... or file this under a desire to just go on the record about something ... or file this under "hey -- remember when you changed my life" ... or file this under unsung heroes who deserve to be sung about (or about whom which songs deserve to be sung) ... or file this under how you were always there for me ... but with so many options and so many things to say ... (cont., (c), on your card ...)

Bonus Post: Thing 14

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 14:

File this under how you made my college experience the "bestest" ... and Kim H, I chose to save the "bestest" for "lastest" (yep, with only 14 days left until the end of the world, this is the last of the particular 100 Things posts that will get filed under this folder/subcategory, so to speak -- and disclaimer to all the others, it's not really a competition), that was you back in the day.  Focusing on all the good memories ... from all the evenings we spent preparing for the night of January 16th (LVC-ers:  you either get that reference ... or you don't), to your participation in my Mysterious Murder Quests ... to the vacations with family members in Pine Creek and the John H Kerr reservoir (what was it about us and water trips?) ... to co-parenting a kitty named Smokey (or is that menage-a-parenting, since Jon M was involved?) ... to demonstrating that healing, although sometimes a long and painful process in and of itself, is the most worthwhile prize for which we all should be fighting and for which we are all deserving ... for that and so much more that won't possibly fit into this post, and as this modern world (allegedly) draws to a close, please know that I am so grateful to have had the months with you that I did -- and to learn, courtesy of Mark Z and his Facebook, that you have found yourself a happy adult life.  I continue to wish you ... only the best!

Bonus Post: Thing 15

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 15:

File this under confessions ... but Thing 15!  Thing 15!  Where did all the time go?  When the creative muse first struck me with this concept, I'll admit I was a little concerned that I might not actually have 100 things that I've always wanted to say but never did and now maybe should since the world might be ending.  But there are only 15 days left!  I would have thought by now, we would have some kind of sign that the poles were almost turning upside down or the continents were close to breaking asunder or the sun was next-thing-to exploding.  [P.S.  -- in case you didn't catch that this was designed to be a creative exercise (sometimes tongue-in-cheek) but mostly a unique way for me to suggest that every day should be lived like it was your last, I am 95% sure that nothing will happen overnight on 12.21.12/12.22.12.  But like tons of weather people before me who have figured out that assigning a percentage of probability to an event means that they are always right irrespective of how things play out, there is that 5% that would be just tickled if everyone who reads this has a final thought of ... "huh ... looks like he was right" ... as the world ends around them.]  And lookie there -- Thing 15 was all about how Thing 15 was unbelievably Thing 15.  I'm so meta sometimes ... without even trying too hard!

Bonus Post: Thing 16

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 16:

File this under long overdue thanks ... but now that we're down to just over two weeks before the world (maybe) ends, a quick (but long overdue) thank you should be offered to Mr. C, my ninth grade Social Studies teacher at Lebanon High School.  I've said before how grateful I was to escape into my high school life and away from my home situation, and Mr. C was another of those teachers who went above and beyond just instructing me about the things that ninth grades should know historically, and who took an interest in my personal development, making sure that I had a place to go to talk -- including letting me end every Friday signed out of whatever high school obligation I had so that I could be positioned in his office and so that I could get a head start out of the school at quitting time to get the secret ride over to Hebron church to work on my newsletter/magazine project ... all of which fostered that independent spirit who would find creative ways to succeed even when the odds were stacked against him.  So thanks Mr. C for taking the extra time to care way back then!

Bonus Post: Thing 17

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 17:

File this under great appreciation ... but with just 17 days left until the end of days (maybe), and as I'm slowly coming to grips with the fact that even Batman can't save us, I can at least be grateful for all the enjoyment I've gotten out of that franchise in my lifetime.  [If only I could monetize this blog, I could maybe get paid to mention that the last in the most modern trilogy was released today on DVD/Blueray/OnDemand/Redbox etc.]  He and I go way back, this Batman  ... to the campy television show ... which I saw after school when I was young (I'm old ... but I'm not old enough to have watched it in prime time).  I've taped many of those episodes (and they sit on VCR tapes which are just a few of the items in my hoarding-apprentice-in-training room) and so I can tell you all of the Catwomen or which famous late 60's celebrities played which villains.  And then the first movie revival was big right when I was being independent and learning who I was in the late eighties/early nineties.  I've collected all kinds of Bat-items through the years as the Batman has waxed and waned in pop culture, but my prized possession is the Batmobile I played with as a child (authentically missing the Batman because I either ate him or played with him rough enough to have ejected him from the batseat ...)  And not to get too deep, I even think that, in my personal life, I'm most at peace when I have a guest villain in my life -- because when you can easily identify the villain in your life (and all of the Batman villains are quite easily identifiable), then you can focus all of your energy on the fight of good vs evil and you don't have to worry about not knowing who might not have your best interests at heart amidst everyone else that surrounds you that isn't so easily identifiable as a villain.  Plus -- the utility belt is way cool.

Bonus Post: Thing 18

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 18:

File this under "look ma, I went and got myself a career" ... but if the world is ending in 18 days, I should probably stop and thank those who have shaped my work life once I became an adult.  And although I've previously called out those who were my direct supervisors over the years since I started with this company in 2004, for most of my time there (before I switched positions in 2010), it was the part time Kaplan student advisor who drove the successes that I experienced.  And that role was perfect for people who were just looking for a little work on the side and wanted to put in a few hours here and there while they pursued other passions (like school for many, or acting for a few).  I can't possibly pick favorites, but with today being brought to you by the number 18, here are eighteen for whom I am most thankful (as it was their dedication and commitment to customer service and to caring about our students that helped me get to where I am today -- and sorry in advance if I forgot your name on this list as I recognize it is not all-inclusive):  Zach B, Matt B, Michael C, Jenny C, Don D, Courtney E, Matty F, Rupal G, Deborah G, Kunjal H, Amy L, Adam M, Dana R, Amy R, Magdana S, Joel S, Elena T and any one of the multiple guys named Jon or John or Jonathan that I hired!  To those that have stayed in touch, it's been a pleasure to have kept up to date with you and your successes!

Bonus Post: Thing 19

100 Things I've Always Wanted To Say But Never Did And Now Maybe Should Since The World Might Be Ending -->

Thing 19:

File this under love ya like a brother, man ... but Eric F, with just 19 days left before the end of the world (maybe) and absolutely no chance for me to make it back to PA before 12.21.12, I'm going to stop and think back about those carefree days at McDonalds when we all met (McPickle slices have amazing staying power on so many surfaces), or riding over to the BMX race track (behind the fairgrounds) or hanging out at the Plaza (when the Plaza actually had an internal space in which one could hang out).  But even more than those "good old days", I'm constantly reminded of the strength of our friendship [not just by the fact that I still have the item you acquired for me as my key chain some twenty years later], but because every time I do get back home, I always end up unwinding from the trip sitting around the bonfire in your backyard, having a bite to eat and a few beers while catching up with you and Kyle (and sometimes Jarrod when he's in town) about life and your families and work and about all kinds of other things.  And it doesn't matter how long I've been away ... we all just slip back into old times.  [P.S. -- I'm not just saying nice things out of guilt for breaking your gravity chair last year proving that IT has a weight limit -- and that, sadly, I do not OR because you donated so many items to my Batman collection on the last trip home ... but because those moments around the fire recharge my very soul.]  Here's to you (and yours)!