The Twelve Days of Gheorghemas: Day Eight

On the eight day day of Gheorghe-mas, Big Gheorghe gave to me:

Eight Things I'm Thankful For

Seven Books for Reading

Six Top Episodes of Ted Lasso

Five Beers and Tunes

Four Resolutions

Three Gheorghemas Gifts to Give Yourself

Two Stones of Weight Loss (Your Mileage May Vary)

and Running Gags with Quatro Kitties

Merry Christmas Eve, Gheorghies! I don't think I'm breaking news when I say that 2020 kinda sucked. Was 2021 great? Not hardly. but it was, at least for me, much better than 2020. With that, and the Christmas Spirit in mind, here are 8 things I'm extremely thankful for.

1. My new job(s) - At the end of last year I was working for the same company I'd been at for nearly ten years. I'd been successful and had moved up the corporate ladder somewhat. However, a combination of organizational changes and a dissatisfaction with what I perceived as limited opportunities for my future left me looking for a new gig. In late 2020, that new gig happened. I was offered a job with a company in the healthcare software sector. I eagerly accepted the position. And then something unexpected happened. On the day I accepted my new job, a recruiter called me and said another company in the healthcare software business was interested in me. The money was better and the company was more established. I went through a round of interviews and was offered the job. So, by mid-January I'd started my new job and was being offered this other job. Both jobs were remote. I wasn't sure which one I wanted. So I took them both. Yes. I had two full time jobs. This lasted until mid-September when I finally had to make a choice (travel and such). I ultimately decided on the second job. Life is good. My boss is cool. And I really, really like working from home after almost a decade of putting 20,000 miles on my car a year. Those 9 months of double paychecks weren't bad either.

2. Youth Sports - Yeah, I know. Youth sports can suck. Especially when you coach them like I do. And 2020 was a kick in the balls. Our local basketball league canceled the season due to COVID. That left my daughter with nothing to play. But then she came to me and asked to play baseball. During quarantine she'd play catch and some wiffle ball with my Dad and decided she wanted to give it a shot. So we signed her up and, as luck would have it, one of my friends was coaching a team. He picked my kid up and...she's good. Like, really good. She had a great season and loved playing third base. I nicknamed her Terry Pendleton. Then, a couple of weeks of after baseball ended she went to see some of her friends play a soccer game. Soccer was her first sport but she lost interest a couple of years ago. This team was all girls and it was the first time she'd ever seen a team comprised of nothing but girls. The next day she asked if she could play soccer again. A week or two later she tried out for and made the local girls U10 comp soccer team. It took the kid a while to get back in the swing of things but by the end of the year she was more than holding her own and my sweet, sensitive and not terribly aggressive kid got her first yellow card for elbowing another girl in the ribs. I was a proud Dad. She's all in on soccer and ready for the next season. Lastly, basketball is back and she wanted to play. As a basketball junkie who's had her shooting and doing ball handling drills since age 3, I was psyched, but I wanted to make it more fun. So I asked her if she'd like to play on an all girls team. She eagerly accepted. So we recruited friends to play and come mid-January we'll be rolling out with a team of eight 9-10 girls. I'm not sure who's more excited/nervous- me or the kids.

3. Tattoos - Most of the you know I am a tattoo enthusiast. My wife is as well. COVID shut that habit down for me. I had my thigh tattooed in late February of 2020. And then...nothing. For over a year. I didn't get my thigh finished until September of 2021. And then the bug was back. I've been toying with a full hand tattoo for years now. I've got a couple on my left hand but not the whole thing. Finally, (and partially because I work from home) I said "fuck it". My kid is a very artistic kid (I have two Uncles on my Mother's side who are professional artists. One created the Hamburglar...that talent skipped a generation). She frequently draws shit on her hands. I "commisioned" her to create a tattoo for me based on one of her most frequent drawings. She did a great job and now I'm 45% less employable than I was at the beginning of 2021. My tattoo artist, who my wife and I have spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars with, approved though. His exact words were, "she's a little Banksy". Another proud Dad moment.

4. Basketball - Most of you know I love basketball. I left Florida and moved to the middle of nowhere and a place where I knew nobody for the chance to play after high school. I've played constantly since the age of 12. COVID shut that down and I didn't play for the longest stretch since 12. When I finally did start to play again, I had a bad fall and broke my elbow. Now my regular weekly pickup game at the local Catholic church is back. As is the old man league that I play in. And after a very extended layoff, I'm finally healthy again and getting my game back. For me, there's nothing like a couple of hours of running up and down the court and thinking of nothing else other than how to help my team win the game I'm playing. Life is really simple sometimes.

5. New Orleans - I'd guess New Orleans is the most popular city amongst the G:TB crew. With good reason. It's a great city if you like food, music, people and just life in general. When my wife and I met I was shocked to discover she'd never been. Shortly thereafter, I took her to Jazz Fest. We've been half a dozen times since. The latest was a two day trip after the Florida-LSU game (ugh) with two other couples who are great friends. The next trip begins the day after Christmas when we fly out with another family who are from New Orleans to take in the holiday sights and eat and drink like locals. The NFL schedule even lined up in our favor and gave us a MNF game in the Superdome. Its Saints-Dolphins and I hate both teams but I'm pretty pumped for what will surely be a raucous atmosphere on Monday night.

6. Shoes - It's simple. I love shoes. Zman and text about them constantly. I got through the pandemic by buying more than I should've. I've infected my daughter with that love and now I get to buy her all manner of shoes (Jordans, Doc Martens, Air Max, etc, etc). Just today, my wife's best friend's family came over for a pre-Christmas thing. Their eldest daughter is in 7th grade and loves Jordan 1s. I surprised her with a pair for Christmas. She was over the moon with excitement. Give more shoes to the people you love people!

7. Gheorghe: The Blog - We say it often but I don't think that any of us truly realize what an extraordinary community we've created here. I text with Zman more than most members of my family. TJ's wife and my wife are legitimately friends. TR and I met for the first time out in Denver in September and it was like we'd known each other for years (because we kind of have). Marls and his wife know my family and send us Christmas cards. I tailgated with Whitney, his kids and other friends before a Florida-South Carolina game and watched him HOUSE one of his kids friends in a beer bong race (If you haven't seen the video, I'm happy to share it). When you step back and take a look at it, it's pretty remarkable. And that's what life is about, right? The people you meet on the journey. I fucking love y'all.

8. Christmas - I just love Christmas. Not all the presents and shit. That's cool and I love giving to people I love but, more importantly, I love being with people I love and having the time to reflect on our blessings. We're all busier than ever and more preoccupied with shit that doesn't really matter than ever but for a day or two it's really fucking cool to slow down a bit and be thankful. 

Merry Christmas! I couldn't love y'all more if I had two hearts.