Well, this year is nearly over. I guess I feel like it is a good and bad thing. I am very happy to be nearly free of December. The anniversary's of Grandma and Grandpa's deaths, excessive hours at work, hating work, and an overload of family just really gets at me after a while. I am very happy to have found running this year, which has provided me an outlet through the roughest of times. Although I have come very close, I have managed to stay away from cutting over this past year. There are times when I feel like it is something I must do, but I have fought the urges and triumphed. I have running to thank for that.
The last couple of weeks have really tested my patience and self control. I made it through the 95 hour work week with only one minor verbal explosion, which is pretty good if you ask me. I didn't gripe about the amount of hours, and in the end, I am glad that I put in the extra time. For one thing, it felt good to know that I can still work those shifts and put people both younger and older to shame with my stamina and endurance. The closest person to me in terms of hours worked still worked 45 hours less than I did. She handled it pretty well actually. The other guys on the staff held up pretty well. Only minor griping. They did however, run out of steam at the end of the week. I could have kept going for a lot longer. I am not normally the guy who needs a pat on the back for a job well done. The only thing that really frustrated me was that the Sales Department got all of the credit for the success of the conference that I ran. My name was mentioned on a comment card though, so that was good.
Our tamale tradition was a pretty good success. We had a lot more people helping this year than we did last year. It made things a lot easier. It all went pretty much as normal. A lot of talk about Grandma, and how she did things. Making tamales really is not very enjoyable without her there with us. While she may or may not be with us in spirit, it's not very easy for me. Grandma and Grandpa were both huge into the family, so I will continue to be involved as much as possible to honor them. I wonder if Grandma would like the taste of our tamales. I have no idea what she would think about the meat and sauce, but I'm certain that she would approve of the masa. I definitely hold my own in that department. It was nice to have the dinner on Christmas Eve like we used to. Almost everyone was there, and it was nice to talk and visit with everyone. I was disappointed when everyone just bailed at the same time. It again reminded me how much it feels like people only attend because they feel obligated.
